Vietnam remains the top source of imported rice for the Philippines.

On the rice import situation, the Philippines imported 504,727 tons of rice from January to February 27, down 34.5 percent from the same period last year, based on data from the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI). The rice imports so far represent about 12 percent of the FFF's estimate for 2025, said Raul Montemayor, national director of the Federation of Free Farmers of the Philippines (FFF).

Vietnam remained the country’s top source of imported rice, accounting for the lion’s share of 73.5%. Pakistan replaced Thailand as the second largest rice exporter to the country with 12%, while Thailand’s share was 10%. Other rice suppliers during the reference period were Myanmar, India and South Korea.

Philippines' rice imports expected to decline in 2025 - Illustration photo: Inquirer

Rice imports are expected to decline in 2025, but still be large enough to provide price protection to local farmers, potentially reaching more than 4 million tons, according to Raul Montemayor. In 2024, the Philippines imported about 4.8 million tons of rice, surpassing the previous record high of 3.8 million tons in 2022. The price of imported rice is currently down 30% compared to the same period last year.

The government should “control and regulate” rice imports as the harvest season gets underway to prevent farmgate prices from dropping, which would severely impact farmers’ incomes, said Danilo Fausto, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food. Filipino farmers are also hoping for a bumper harvest this year as there is no El Nino weather phenomenon.

2024 is a breakthrough year, when for the first time the import-export turnover between Vietnam and the Philippines exceeds the 8 billion USD mark. Contributing to the impressive growth of Vietnam's export turnover to the Philippine market in 2024, the first to mention is the main export item of rice with an export turnover of over 2.6 billion USD.

Source: https://vov.vn/kinh-te/viet-nam-van-la-nguon-cung-gao-nhap-khau-hang-dau-cho-philippines-post1187357.vov