DA sees improving rice production this year
The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects local rice production to recover and meet rising demand for the household staple this year, shrugging off recent projections that the Philippines would have to rely more on imports.
In an interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the projection of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) of record-breaking rice imports was “somewhat exaggerated.”
“The DA is projecting that we will recover,” said De Mesa, also the DA’s spokesperson.
“Coming from the recovery in the first quarter, hopefully it will be followed by the second quarter. There are no major calamities now. We’re very hopeful that we can reach 20 million metric tons,” he told reporters.
Citing weather forecasts, De Mesa said that normal rainfall patterns were expected without El Niño or La Niña imminent for the upcoming wet season.
“If there’s any indication, in the first quarter, we had a significant increase, at least 2 percent, in gross value added. And our crops subsector recovered, especially palay,” he said.
De Mesa pointed out that rice imports had surged to a record high of 4.8 million metric tons (MT) in 2024 because of the combined effects of El Niño, La Niña and the series of typhoons that slashed domestic production by about 1 million MT.
The DA was reacting to USDA’s estimate that overseas rice purchases would breach such record, which means that the Philippines would remain as the world’s largest importer of rice.
In a report, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service projected that Philippine rice imports would reach 5.4 million MT in 2025 and further rise to 5.5 million MT in 2026 on the back of the “continued growth in consumption.”
The country’s palay output totaled 4.69 million MT in the first quarter of 2025, nearly unchanged from 4.68 million MT in the same period a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, palay production stood at 19.09 million MT in 2024, down by 4.8 percent from the year prior.
The country has so far imported 1.57 million MT of rice this year as of May 15, data from the Bureau of Plant Industry showed. This is equivalent to 32.7 percent of last year’s overall rice import arrivals.
Vietnam remains the leading supplier with 1.15 million or 73.3 percent. Myanmar came second with a 15.9 percent share and Thailand with 5.6 percent.
