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Philippines to remain biggest rice importer
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is expected to become the world’s largest rice importer until 2021as local production will continue to decline.
In the latest report of the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service, imports will slightly decline this year but will pick up again next year.
Rice imports are seen to fall by 14 percent to 2.5 million metric tons this year.
Despite the decline, the Philippines will still emerge as the world’s biggest importer, displacing China anew with imports of only 2.3 million MT.
“The Philippines will be the top importer, driven by lower domestic production. The largest production declines are forecast in Brazil and the Philippines, although these are relatively modest,” USDA said.
For 2021, imports will surge 32 percent to reach 3.3 million MT.
“With lower production and tighter stocks, larger imports are expected to enable consumption to rise marginally. The 2019 Rice Tariffication Law has made imports more available in the market, depressing overall milled rice prices,” USDA said.
“Southeast Asia is expected to have a large increase in imports. This is mostly driven by the Philippines, which is forecast to be the top global importer, displacing China,” it added.
USDA earlier said farmers were likely to shift to other crops, whereas others would continue the trend of converting lands into other commercial purposes.
A year into the rice tariffication law, rice farmers are still struggling to compete with affordable imports from Southeast Asia although farm gate prices are slowly recovering.
The interventions from the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund provided by RTL to make the local industry more competitive are taking more time than anticipated.
Milled rice production is expected to continue to decline to 11.4 million MT this year and further to 11 million MT by 2021 due to the shift to other crops.
Rice area is also seen to decline as some farmers decide to diversify their crops or convert lands into non-agricultural uses.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/05/14/2013778/philippines-remain-biggest-rice-importer