RP may halve 2011 rice imports

The Agriculture Department said Thursday that it is considering halving rice importations next year. "We will check [if we can import 50 percent less]. We're trying to wrap up discussions on rice production and importation. It will surely be lesser than what we have imported this year. We'll have more solid figures next week," Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said. The Aquino administration is willing to import as much as 50 percent less than the 2010 importation "as long as we have the capability to support this technically and financially," he said. The Philippines — the world's top net importer of rice — bought as much as 2.47 million metric tons (MT) of the commodity to fill its requirements for 2010. The Aquino administration vowed to gradually cut rice imports with a view attaining sufficiency status by 2013. Philippine palay production dropped by 11.41 percent to 3.49 million MT in the first quarter from 3.94 million MT in the first quarter of 2009. Total farm output also declined to -2.84 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from 2.07 percent during the same period in 2009, as both crops and fisheries posted huge losses. Estimates by the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics placed palay production at 6.6 million MT in the first six months, down 10.5 percent from the actual output of 7.38 million MT a year earlier. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV