PHL gives Thailand bulk of rice import volume

The Philippine government has allotted Thailand with a rice import volume of 98,000 metric tons (MT), the bulk of what the private sector may buy from abroad this year under the country specific quota. A notice on country specific data the National Food Authority released Monday, the Philippines also assigned 25,000 MT to China, 25,000 MT to India, and 15,000 MT to Australia, for a total allocation of 163,000 MT. Each Philippine importer is limited to 5,000 MT, with each shipment subject to a 40 percent tariff. NFA administrator Angelito Banayo said it is likely that allocations to the private sector will form part of the Philippines’ total rice importation for 2011. The country-specific import quota is Manila's commitment to the World Trade Organization in exchange for the extension of the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice. The QR is supposed to give Filipino rice farmers a form of protection from the influx of cheap rice from abroad. Philippine will soon announced the first rice tender for the year, with NFA officials meeting this week on the specifics of volume and timing, Banayo said. The private sector program is open to NFA-licensed grains dealers that include individuals, farmer organizations, associations, and cooperatives. Rice import volume The government on Sunday confirmed that the recommended import volume is 1 million to 1.5 million metric tons as suggested by the Inter-Agency Committee on Rice and Corn. As of end-January, the Philippines registered 3.393 million MT of rice inventory, which consists of 1.7 million MT in government warehouses, 1.13 million MT in households, and 563,000 MT in commercial establishments. With such stockpile in place, the government sees no urgency to import the commodity. “Though it is still imperative to buy just to make sure that we have ample stocks than what we need by the time the lean season sets in," Banayo said. — VS, GMA News