Rice arrivals mount as Pinoys eat more

Utility personnel of National Food Authority (NFA) in Balagtas, Bulacan province shows rows of palay (unhusked rice) neatly stock in their warehouse. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Inbound shipments of rice are approaching the 600,000-metric-ton (MT) mark as imports are seen to help raise domestic consumption of the staple grain.

In a report, the Bureau of Plant Industry said the volume of rice that entered the country reached 579,055.81 MT as of March 6.

The majority of shipments came from Vietnam at 76 percent, or 440,207.42 MT, continuing to be the Philippines’ leading source of incoming cargo.

Pakistan and Thailand accounted for 11.1 percent and 9.5 percent of the total, respectively, while Myanmar, India and South Korea delivered the rest.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated that as of Feb. 1, palay (unmilled rice) production is projected to reach 4.72 million MT in the January to March period.

The statistics agency said the volume was 0.7 percent higher than the actual output of 4.69 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

Still, the PSA also projected the harvest area during the three months to decrease by 2.3 percent to 1.15 million hectares (ha), while the yield per hectare of palay might drop by 3 percent to 4.11 MT.

According to the PSA report, 25.1 percent of the 1.15 million ha updated harvest area of standing crop have been harvested. This accounts for 1.17 million MT of palay.

Further, 860,007 ha of standing palay are yet to be harvested, mostly at the reproductive stage.

Research firm BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, had estimated domestic rice production to reach 1.2 million MT in the 2024/2025 cycle, down by 2.6 percent, because of unfavorable weather conditions that could jack up retail prices.

In the Philippines, the crop year for rice starts in July and ends in June the following year.

BMI also estimated that imports would account for about 30 percent of domestic production, a significant increase from the 17 percent five years ago.

“Although domestic production will ease, we also expect consumption to grow thanks to an increase in imports…” BMI said.

The research firm also said domestic output would recover because of improved weather conditions and the extension of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund until 2031.

However, in the long run, BMI said the five-year average annual growth rate for rice consumption up to 2024/25 is pegged at 3.6 percent and 0.2 percent for production.