PH seen hiking rice imports to 1.3M tons

In light of the damage caused by Typhoon “Lando” to rice plantations in vast portions of Central Luzon, the Philippines may have to import an additional 1.3 million metric tons of the food staple during the first half of next year, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said yesterday.

Balisacan told reporters that based on the estimates of the Department of Agriculture and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), the country’s rice importation might reach a total of 1.8 million metric tons early next year.

The Neda chief earlier said the country might import an additional one million metric tons of rice in the first semester of 2016 on top of the 500,000 metric tons programmed for the first quarter.

This intervention formed part of the proposed Roadmap to Address the Impact of El Niño or “Rain,” which is aimed at mitigating the drought’s effect on food supply, ensuring stability of food prices and providing assistance to farmers and households in adversely affected areas.

Last Wednesday, Balisacan presented the proposed road map to President Aquino. The Neda chief said the President acknowledged the need to import more rice early next year, hence their proposal would likely be approved soon.

President Aquino, however, instructed Neda to firm up the rice importation volume requirement based on updated assessments of the impact of a possibly weaker El Niño as well as the crop damage due to “Lando.” Neda would submit an updated report to the President next week, Balisacan said.

The Neda chief added that the total cost of projects needed to be put in place to mitigate the impact of El Niño, which had been projected to last until mid-2016 and peak between December and February, might be higher than the earlier estimate of P19.2 billion, although he did not give a new figure.

In a separate statement issued also yesterday, Balisacan warned of inflation risks mainly due to El Niño.

“Upside risks could come from the stronger and prolonged El Niño’s impact on food prices and also possible increase in utility rates given the pending petitions for power rate adjustments,” the Neda chief explained.

As far as food prices were concerned, “there is a need to ensure supply adequacy and to intensify local community efforts in areas that are highly vulnerable and exposed to adverse impacts of a prolonged dry spell,” he said.

Balisacan added that El Niño “could adversely affect hydro-powered generation plants and raise the cost of electricity particularly in Mindanao.”

“It is also important that the ongoing power projects that are expected to be delivered between November 2015 and March 2016 will not be delayed. This will ensure that inflationary pressure coming from power shortages is tempered,” the Neda chief said.