Julia Christine Botin

Rice imports down by almost half in first quarter

Article (news)

Jervis Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA (UPDATE) — Philippine rice imports were cut by almost half in the first quarter of 2025, the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.</p><p>As of March 13, 2025, total rice imports reached 641,000 metric tons, which was much lower than the 1.2 million metric tons imported in the same period last year.</p><p>&quot;Ibig sabihin nito, malaki talaga yung pumasok na imported na bigas last year, plus expectations na magiging maganda ang harvest this year,&quot; Asec. Arnel De Mesa said.</p><p>(This just means that the volume of imports last year was extraordinarily high, and we didnt have to import much this year due to an expected good harvest.)</p><p>The El Nino phenomenon impacted local rice production in 2024, which triggered more imports due to fears that ricefields would dry up due to drought. De Mesa also said the agency&#x27;s aggressive actions to temper the price of rice and even India&#x27;s actions on rice exports contributed to lower level of rice imports.</p><p>&quot;Makikita natin na nag-aadjust ang importation,&quot; De Mesa said.  (We can see that importers are adjusting.)</p><p>&quot;Nagiging predictive na ngayon yung pangangailangan for importation, which can be manifested ngayon dito,&quot; he added.  (We can now predict the need for rice imports, and it is manifested in this data.)</p><p>The Philippines ranked as the world&#x27;s top importer of rice in 2023 and 2024.</p><div><strong>SPECIAL RICE?</strong></div><p>The DA said it will also look into the &#x27;special&#x27; rice being sold in Valenzuela City. This rice variety allegedly had the brand name &#x27;president&#x27;, and was being sold at P62 per kilo, way above the P49/kilo MSRP for imported rice.</p><p>De Mesa said special types and varieties of rice are not covered by the MSRP. The &#x27;special&#x27; president rice was discovered in an &#x27;Operation Timbangan&#x27; held by the local government of Valenzuela to check the accuracy of the weighing scales in their markets.</p><p>&quot;Hindi kasali ang special rice sa MSRP but we will check,&quot; de Mesa said.</p><p>(Special rice are exempted from the MSRP but we will check into it.)</p><p>The Valenzuela LGU and DTI on Wednesday held an Operation Timbangan, which aims to ensure fair trade in their markets.</p><div><strong>ONION IMPORTS</strong></div><p>Meanwhile, 986 metric tons out of the expected 1000 MT of imported yellow onions have arrived in the country while 2,300 metric tons of red onions have also arrived out of expected 3,000 metric tons.</p><p>&quot;Hindi na nadagdagan ang dumating na sibuyas,&quot; De Mesa said.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6HyR2akqkK8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Philippine rice imports were cut by almost half in the first quarter of 2025, the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.</p>

Philippine rice imports were cut by almost half in the first quarter of 2025, the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.