Philippines seen to import 1.3 MMT more rice
In the latest report of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the Philippines was seen to import 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of rice next year, lower than the original import target of 1.7 million MT. File
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is expected to import more rice next year as local production will still not be enough to cover the national demand, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
In the latest report of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the Philippines was seen to import 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of rice next year, lower than the original import target of 1.7 million MT.
This year’s rice import level, however, is 38 percent higher than the 800,000 MT of rice that entered the country in 2016.
“Increased output is expected as a result of favorable weather conditions and increased use of high-yielding varieties. There were noticeably fewer intense typhoons that passed through major rice production areas compared to previous years,” USDA said.
“A substantial shift away from rice to corn is not expected due to delays in the tariffication of rice,” it added.
The lower importation is expected as production of milled-rice next year is seen increasing two percent to 11.97 million MT from 11.68 million MT.
The USDA expects rice fields to cover 4.8 million hectares, up two percent year on year.
This will be complemented by yield slightly improving to 3.95 MT per hectare.
Local corn production is seen to slightly improve by 1.2 percent to 8.2 million MT.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s import dependency ratio (IDR) abruptly decreased to 4.99 percent last year from 11.07 percent in 2015.
Rice imports fell 54.71 percent to $278.87 million in 2016. In terms of volume, shipments plunged by 58.87 percent to 609,360 MT.
Given lower imports, the country’s self-sufficiency ratio of rice increased to 95.01 percent from 88.93 percent in 2015.
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