Rice imports hit new record high

The Philippines remains the world's largest rice importer as imports reached a new record high of nearly 3.9 million metric tons, latest Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data showed.

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The country's rice imports as of Nov. 7 reached an all-time high of 3.89 million MT, eclipsing the previous record of 3.83 million MT in 2022.

The latest import volume has also surpassed the 3.61 million MT full-year rice imports last year by at least eight percent, based on BPI data.

The bulk or about 78 percent of the total imported rice came from Vietnam, which has been the country's top supplier of the grain even before and especially after Republic Act 11203 deregulated the country's rice industry.

The country imported 3.04 million MT of rice from Vietnam - about two percent higher than the 2.99 million MT recorded import volume from that country for the entire 2023.

Vietnam was followed by Thailand, which exported 497,465 MT to the Philippines; Pakistan, 178,179 MT, and Myanmar, 143,364 MT. Completing the top five rice import sources was India, which provided 22,108 MT.

BLY Agri Venture Trading led the 154 eligible traders and importers that imported rice this year with 280,909 MT, followed by Atara Marketing Inc. with 204,530 MT and Orison Free Enterprise Inc. with 187,609 MT.