The Department of Agriculture has recommended that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. increase tariffs on imported rice and temporarily suspend rice importation to protect local farmers.
Press Secretary Dave Gomez told reporters that the President considers the issue urgent and will discuss it with his Cabinet during his state visit to India.
Under the amended Rice Tariffication Law, which liberalized rice importation, the President has the authority to halt import of the food staple.
Section 9 of the law empowers the President to suspend or prohibit further importation “when there is an excessive supply of imported or locally produced rice resulting in an extraordinary decrease in local prices.” The ban may be imposed for a limited period or volume until both supply and prices stabilize.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., in an interview on TV5’s The Big Story Friday night, said his recommendation is to gradually increase the rice tariff—from 15 percent to 25 percent, and eventually back to 35 percent—so as not to “shock the value chain.”
Farmers have reported that some private traders are buying palay at just P8 per kilo, far below the production cost of P12 to P14. They attribute the steep drop in farmgate prices to the influx of cheaper imported rice.
Currently, the landed cost of 5 percent broken imported rice has fallen to around P35 per kilo, and in some cases, even lower.
