Rice imports fall 35% in first two months

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s rice imports in the first two months plunged by almost 35 percent on an annual basis to a little over 500,000 metric tons, the Bureau of Plant Industry said.

BPI data showed that rice imports from January to February reached 504,726 MT, at least 266,000 MT lower than the 770,846 MT recorded in the same two-month period last year.

Vietnam, the country’s top rice supplier, accounted for 73 percent of the imported volume during the two-month period. The Philippines imported 370,908 MT of rice from Vietnam.

It was followed by Pakistan at 60,788 MT and Thailand at 53,722 MT. The country’s other import sources during the reference period were Myanmar (11,315 MT), India (5,991 MT) and South Korea (2,000 MT).

Industry sources told The STAR that imports were down because of the high carry-over stocks from last year when private entities imported a record-high 4.8 million MT of rice.

Furthermore, some importers canceled their contracts last month after Vietnam rice prices sharply fell due to its forthcoming harvest amid abundant global supplies driven by the return of India to the world market.

Private entities’ appetite to bring in foreign rice stocks during the two-month period waned as reflected in the 74-percent plunge in the import volume indicated in the approved sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs) by the BPI.

BPI data showed that the its total issued SPSICs for rice from January to February represented an import volume 722,200 MT, nowhere near the 2.8 million MT recorded volume in the same period last year.

Eligible traders and importers must secure an SPSIC from the BPI before being allowed to bring in foreign rice stocks in the country, under existing rules and regulation.

The SPSIC is a regulatory document that certifies that an incoming imported commodity is safe for human consumption and does not pose any threat to human, plant and animal health.