DA to open Jan. rice import window

THE PHILIPPINES will implement a one-month rice import window in January and reimpose a ban on imports from February to April, as the government seeks to support the prices of rough rice in the 2026 harvest season.

- Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio Reporter

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said the department is looking to allow about 300,000 metric tons (MT) of rice imports in January 2026, a plan “more or less” approved by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. following the extension of the rice import ban through end-2025.

“We have to import by January just to be sure,” Mr. Tiu Laurel told lawmakers in Filipino at a House of Representatives hearing, “Our imported stocks, which we stopped in September, are estimated to run out by the end of November and we'll be running on local stocks in December.”

“That kind of situation is quite risky,” he added.

Mr. Marcos had earlier ordered a 60-day suspension of rice imports starting Sept. 1 to support Filipino farmers during harvest season and to stabilize rice prices. The suspension was originally supposed to end on Nov. 2 and applies only to regular milled and well-milled rice.

“We will extend the rice import stoppage until the end of 2025,” Mr. Tiu Laurel said.

He said the Philippines, the world’s top rice buyer, had imported around 3.5 million MT of rice as of end-September, overshooting this year’s rice import target limit by 800,000 tons.

“We should be at the 2.7 [million MT levels] in imported rice. So, we are... in excess,” he said. “The monthly import volume should only be around 300,000 tons or 3.6 million MT a year.”

Monthly rice imports ranged from 305,000 MT to 517,800 MT in the first eight months of the year, Agriculture Undersecretary Christopher V. Morales said at the same congressional hearing.

The Philippines last year imported about 4.7 million MT of rice, and the US Department of Agriculture in August projected the Southeast Asian nation to bring in about 4.9 million MT of rice for the whole year.