Philippines opens talks with Vietnam, India for importation of 300-500K MT of rice —DA

The Philippines has opened talks with Vietnam and India for the importation of hundreds of thousands metric tons of rice to augment supply and decrease prices, a top official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Friday.

In a statement, Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said the DA opened talks with Vietnam and India “upon the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.”

Marcos currently sits as the secretary of Agriculture.

As a result of continuing talks, Panganiban said “some Vietnamese exporters have quoted our private traders $30-$40 lower since our [last] meeting in Malacañang.”

“The DA will also work with the government of India to allow imports on humanitarian grounds,” the DA official said.

The Agriculture executive said the talks “will hopefully pave the way for the country to get better terms for the additional 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of rice importation for this year.”

Early this month, DA Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla said the agency is eyeing to import anew 1.3 million metric tons of rice.

Panganiban said rice importations will help lower the prices of rice “as it will further beef up our national inventory.”

Even without importation, he said the national rice inventory is expected to last for 52 to 57 days by the end of 2023.

Marcos earlier assured the Filipino people that the DA has enough supply of rice despite the agricultural damage left by super typhoon Egay in Northern Luzon and the El Niño phenomenon.

The President recently met with the agricultural officials and traders at the  Malacañan Palace where they discussed their recommendations to address issues on rice supply in the country.—AOL, GMA Integrated News