The Philippines has not reached the estimated 4.7 million metric tons of hulled rice imports, said the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI).

In an exclusive interview with DZRH, BPI Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban explained that the country has yet to accrue over 4 million metric tons in rice imports this year, as projected by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). As of November, the accumulated import volume is at 3.7 million to 3.8 million metric tons, he revealed.

Necessitated by the deluge driven by tropical cyclone after tropical cyclone, Panganiban assured the continued issuance of SPSICs or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances to bring rice imports into the country, although he acknowledged a noticeable decrease in prices will take its time, despite the reduced tariff.

When asked whether the Philippines is the world’s number 1 importer of rice, Panganiban said that was what reports indicate, but that people should wait for the year to conclude.

“Actually ang ating rice program ay talaga pong nagbibigay ng malaking effort para makapag-produce po tayo ng dagdag na produksyon (Actually our rice program is really making great efforts towards added production),” he said.

“And of course iba nating ahensya ng DA ay naglalaan din ng suporta for post-harvest. Atin pong rice program ay nagbibigay ng production support. Hindi naman ito agarang makikita, at lahat po ng ahensya ng ating pamahalaan ay nagtutulong-tulong para makatulong sa ating farmers,” he explained.

(And of course our other agencies under the DA are also providing support for the post-harvest stage. Our rice program provides production support. It won’t be felt immediately, but all agencies are working together to help our farmers.)

Currently, Vietnam is the Philippines’ main source of imported rice, accounting for 80 percent of it, disclosed the director.