Vietnam commits rice supply to Phl

MANILA, Philippines -  Vietnam, the country’s largest rice supplier, has renewed its commitment to aid the Philippines in its rice import requirements amid an ongoing order from President Duterte to defer all rice importation.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said the commitment was relayed by Vietnamese Vice Minister for Trade and Industry Tran Quoc Khanh during a Philippines-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held in the country early this week.

“The meeting with Vietnam is significant because the last time we held the JTC was in 2003. So after 14 years we reconvened and we covered a lot of issues,” Rodolfo said.

“Number one, Vietnam expressed support to the Philippines and readiness on whatever our domestic decision will be with respect to rice importation. They are very supportive, whatever that is,” he added.

According to Rodolfo, Khanh said Vietnam is ready to provide the “quality needed and the quantity needed” by the Philippines in terms of its rice requirements.

“They are very supportive and they understand the situation also. In the meantime that the Philippines is working toward self-sufficiency, they are ready just in case we will be needing rice,” he said.

Vietnamese rice imports represent the biggest or 48 percent of the country’s total. In 2015, the Philippines’ rice importation from Vietnam was pegged at $223.3 million.

The government, through the order of President Duterte, however, has decided to formally defer the importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice despite the continued insistence of the National Food Authority to buy from international sources.

Aside from the topic of rice supply, the Philippines and Vietnam also discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral trade, as well as balance the import and export trade between the two Southeast Asian countries during the recent JTC. 

The DTI said Khanh is optimistic the Philippines could be the perfect trade partner of Vietnam in industries such as manufacturing leather goods and footwear, as well as organic farming.

“We could say that with our sourcing cooperation and collaboration with Vietnam, textile companies who would invest in the Philippines are not just looking at our export market and our domestic market of 100 million, but also the 100 million domestic market of Vietnam and also the export market of Vietnam. So it is now larger,” Rodolfo said.