President Duterte’s order to remove nontariff barriers and streamline procedures on the importation of agricultural products last year had led to spikes in the shipments of rice and vegetables to the country last year, data from the Bureau of Customs (BoC) showed.
This despite records from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing that the local industry had enough supply to meet consumer demand, although at higher prices.
Industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) yesterday released data it collated from the BoC that showed rice importation jumping by 78 percent to 1.96 million metric tons (MT) last year from 1.10 million MT in 2017. Importation of bulb onions in the same period soared by 161 percent to 101.38 million kilos from 38.7 million kilos in 2017 while vegetable imports rose by 138 percent to 1.17 million kilos from 426,864 kilos.
Asked for comment, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said he could not do anything to stop the importation of agricultural commodities that had been deregulated by the President, adding that there was nothing wrong with importation so long as traders followed the right procedures.
“So what if it increased? Is that illegal? These are deregulated commodities and so I cannot stop it,” he said.
The President’s directive, which was implemented in September last year, came after the country’s inflation hit 6.4 percent in August—the fastest in over nine years, or since it hit 6.6 percent in March 2009.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said it was the President’s “decisive actions” that led to the easing of the inflation.
However, the unimpeded entry of agricultural goods is now beginning to hurt local food growers, especially rice and onion farmers. Farm-gate price of rice has dropped to P18 a kilo from P25 while that of onion fell to P15 from P40 a kilo.