No rice shortage seen due to good harvest

With the country’s record harvest last year, an economist from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said there would be no rice shortage in the country, at least for the first quarter of 2018.

According to Flordeliza Bordey, deputy executive director for research of PhilRice, the Philippines was able to produce a total of 19.3 million metric tons (MT) of palay last year, which was equivalent to 12.5 million MT of rice—the country’s highest production in history.

“If we examine our rice consumption, we only need 13.1 million tons, including our food, rice seeds, raw materials for processing of value-added products, animal food and even wastage. This is based on the assumption that about 105 million Filipino individually consume approximately 110 kilograms of rice every year,” Bordey explained.

For the start of the year, PhilRice estimated roughly 3 million MT of carryover rice stocks, which was sufficient to feed the country for 87 days. Moreover, local farmers traditionally harvest 23 percent of the total production of the year during the first quarter.

Nonetheless, the economist said there was still a need to import rice given the country’s “seasonal” production along with the government’s policy shift to a “tariff regime” wherein imported rice could freely enter the country provided that the required tariff was paid.

“Our stocks dwindle as we enter the lean months from July to September. Without comfortable level of stocks, there is a tendency for the price of rice to spike. This is where importation can help. It can help us manage the supply and demand for rice, and avoid sudden increase in its rice. Even with a 35-percent tariff rate on our [rice imports from] Asean neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam, Philippine rice is still more expensive,” said Bordey.

“The only way our local rice can compete is to lower its cost. We can only do that if we enhance the competitiveness of our farmers,” she added. —KARL R. OCAMPO