Rice is an important staple food for the Philippines. Despite its rice production, the annual output cannot meet the demand, so the Philippines has to import rice from many countries.
For Vietnam, rice is both a traditional commodity and a key export item, creating a solid position for Vietnam in the Philippine market in recent times.
However, along with geopolitical fluctuations and instability in the world, policy changes in some major rice-producing countries in the world, typically India's ban on rice exports, make the issue of ensuring food security in the Philippines even more important.
Vietnam exports rice mainly to the Philippines, Indonesia,... Photo: TL
The Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines stated that, realizing the large dependence on rice supply from Vietnam, the Philippine Government is looking for ways to reduce this dependence by diversifying supply sources, looking for potential rice suppliers other than Vietnam, which they previously thought had no advantage.
According to statistics from the Bureau of Plant Protection - Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, from January 1 to March 14, 2024, the total rice import volume of the Philippines is 886,963.11 tons, about 10.6% higher than the total rice import volume of the Philippines in the first quarter of 2023.
Of the total rice imports of the Philippines mentioned above, rice imported from Vietnam still accounts for the largest amount, at 493,962.72 tons, accounting for 55.7%. Next is rice imported from Thailand with 230,559.43 tons, accounting for 26%, while rice imported from Pakistan is 109,803.5 tons, accounting for 12.4%.
In addition, the Philippines also imported rice from Myanmar with a quantity of 48,960 tons, from Cambodia 1,620 tons, from Japan 1,815.37 tons, from India 235.5 tons and from Italy 6.6 tons.
The above rice was imported by 109 companies licensed by the Bureau of Plant Protection - Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, including the two largest importers in the Philippines, Orison Free Enterprise Inc, with a volume of 103,408.35 tons, followed by BLY Agri Venture Trading with an import volume of 55,419.99 tons.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Plant Health – Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, from March 1 to 14, 2024, also issued 424 quarantine clearance certificates for 358,188.5 tons of imported rice. And according to regulations, the amount of rice granted quarantine clearance must be imported into the Philippines within 30 days from the date of issuance.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines, the Philippines' initial success in diversifying rice supply sources has made Vietnamese rice increasingly competitive in the Philippine market, requiring Vietnamese rice exporting enterprises to have good preparation and competitive strategies, first of all, image and reputation to continue maintaining relationships with long-standing traditional customers and partners, and expanding the search for new partners and importers.
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