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THE country has initiated its 300,000-metric ton (MT) government-to-government (G2G) rice importation after state-run Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) sent a formal communication to trade partners to participate in the bidding.
In a statement on Monday, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the PITC “has officially opened” the G2G importation, which seeks to boost domestic supplies during the lean months, or when harvest is minimal.
The PITC, the country’s trading firm, is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
“The PITC has already sent communications to Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Cambodia,” Dar said.
The government also welcomed Vietnam’s recent decision to summarize its rice exports to keep food supply stable in the Asean region and help its neighbors cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We welcome the decision by Vietnam to summarize its rice export policy and taking into account the difficulties faced by various stakeholders during this crisis,” Dar said.
Citing a letter of Vietnam’s Trade Minister Tan Tuan Anh to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, Dar said Vietnam will summarize the shipment of 400,000 MT of rice that were contracted in April to the Philippines.
Indeed, Vietnam is making a valuable contribution in strengthening Asean cooperation and internal unity. We need to keep the regional market open for trade and ensure the sustainability of the supply chain among Asean member-states, especially for food and other essential goods, ”Dar said.
“This means that Vietnamese rice exporters will commence the fulfillment of their contracts with Philippine importers, and consider future supply deals under an existing bilateral trade agreement,” Dar added.
The Philippines has imported over 700,000 MT of rice from January to April, with private traders and corporations cornering bulk of the volume, latest Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data showed.
About 139 eligible rice importers — of which 86 are private traders, corporations and firms — brought in 728,979.07 MT of rice during the four-month period, latest BPI data analyzed by the BusinessMirror showed.
The rice imports were sourced from Cambodia, India, Italy, Myanmar, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam, BPI data showed.
The 86 private traders imported about 60 percent or 442,998.38 MT of the total volume, with Sodatrade Corp. leading the list with a total volume imported of 34,759.5 MT.
The rest, or 285,981 MT of rice, was imported by cooperatives and associations, mostly led by farmers, BPI data showed.
Only a little over a quarter was imported by all eligible importers out of the 2,702 MMT approved volume by the government. Due to this, around 1,973 MMT of rice is still expected to arrive this year, BPI data indicated.
Vietnam accounted for 86.76 percent or about 632,482.85 MT of the total imports from January to April, BPI data showed.
The DA has been urging the private sector to continuously apply for SPS-IC and bring in rice shipments to ensure that the country has sufficient stockpile during and beyond the enhanced community quarantine amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
