By: Sophia Pacheco
Workers unload sacks of rice along Dagupan Street in Manila. Photo: Ryan Baldemor / Philippine Star
The Philippine government on Wednesday, Oct. 8, extended the nationwide rice import ban until the end of 2025 to protect local farmers and stabilize palay prices amid rising supply concerns.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the export ban was extended amid falling farmgate palay prices and oversupply in import volumes that have already exceeded projections.
“If the tariff hike is approved, well and good. But if not, our fallback plan, supported by the President, is to allow importation only in January and suspend it again from February to April to protect the next harvest,” Laurel Jr. said during a House agriculture committee hearing.
He also revealed that rice shipments had reached 3.5 million metric tons (MT), far above the 2.7 million MT that should have been brought in by this point in the year.
Under the plan, the government would allow about 300,000 MT of rice imports in January 2026 and then reimpose the ban from February through April, ahead of the dry season harvest.
“We have to manage our stocks and our importation versus our production… Full liberalization only puts us in this situation,” Laurel Jr. added.
Meanwhile, Finance Undersecretary Karlo Fermin S. Adriano said the Department of Finance (DOF) is still assessing whether to restore higher rice tariff rates or maintain current levels, noting that the government could lose about ?20 billion in annual revenues under the existing tariff structure.
“On the revenue foregone due to the import ban, the range is about ?1.4 billion to ?2 billion every month,” Adriano said.
Experts also added that while the extended ban may benefit farmers under normal weather conditions, recent typhoons could lower domestic rice output and affect the country’s ability to meet consumer demand.
“The decision to extend the rice import ban until yearend may benefit farmers, but recent typhoons threaten domestic output and could undermine the country’s ability to meet consumer demand,” said Roy S. Kempis, a retired agriculture economics professor at Pampanga State Agricultural University.
According to the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the farmgate price for palay fell by 27.8% to ?17.11 per kilo in August from the ?23.71 per kilo last year.
The original suspension covered two months beginning September, under Executive Order No. 93, which halted imports of regular milled and well-milled rice to stabilize local prices during the harvest season.
The government is also considering raising tariffs on rice imports before the ban ends.