Rice imports slump 30% amid ban

The country’s rice imports last year reached 3.37 million metric tons (MT), nearly 30 percent lower than the record high in 2024, amid the imposition of an import ban as rice production improved.

- BY DEXTER BARRO III

Based on the latest data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the country's rice imports in 2025 dropped from 4.81 million MT in 2024.

Import volume last year was 130,000 MT short of the government’s estimate of 3.5 million MT. It was also the country’s lowest level in four years.

Vietnam was the country’s top rice imports arriving in the country Rice imports slump 30% amid ban B-14 before, and we can control that. So supplier last year, shipping a total of 2.74 million MT as of Dec. 25, or 81 percent of the rice import tally.

Other major sources included Myanmar with 343,910 MT, Thailand with 176,840 MT, Pakistan with 76,448 MT, and India with 20,786 MT.

BPI data showed that it issued 4,500 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICS) last year, of which nearly 87 percent, or 3,909, were used.