The Department of Agriculture on Tuesday expressed appreciation to the prompt action of Philippine Ports Authority and Bureau of Customs to facilitate the swift movement of imported agricultural products to increase supply in the market and, possibly, lower prices for Filipino consumers.

The PPA said last week that hundreds of container vans loaded with food products, including rice, have been sitting in Manila ports—some of them for several months–as consignees delay their withdrawal. Port officials suspect consignees are trying to reduce warehousing cost or just waiting for prices of the food items to rise as they appear to have imported these items at higher prices.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said based on data reviewed by DA, the delay in the shipping and delivery of imported farm products was caused by several storms and weather disturbances, including recent typhoons. “The delay was caused by force majeure,” he said.

The DA chief said the closer cooperation with BOC and PPA will also help DA better time importation to enhance management of domestic food supply and ensure food security.

“This would help up improve our supply and price forecasting and avoid artificial shortages caused by product hoarding. Data that we will gather will also help us determine which importers to blacklist, if needed,” the DA chief said.

The DA is looking at adding requirements to the import permits issued by its agencies, particularly the Bureau of Plant Industry and Bureau of Animal Industry, to ensure that imported agricultural food products are immediately delivered to warehouses and sold to the market.

In a news conference held separately in Malacañang, PPA General Manager Jay Santiago pledged cooperation with the DA on monitoring of food shipments, noting this arrangement will allow the agency to better manage movement of food containers in various seaports and contribute to the improvement of trade and economic activity.

Santiago said as a result of the inspection of 888 “overstaying” container vans last week, around 300 container vans have been pulled out by their consignees. He expects more to be removed from the ports before the end of the month.

Santiago said by October 1, the PPA will send a report to the DA on the overstaying imported agricultural food prices and ask the BOC to declare these shipments as abandoned for proper disposition.

DA assistant secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa said even if those overstaying container vans are all loaded with rice, the volume is just a small percentage of the 3.09 million metric tons of imported rice and won’t affect rice prices in the market.

In fact, DA spokesman de Mesa said retail prices of rice are already starting to decline from around P50 a kilo to P42 for imported well-milled rice and P45 for local well-milled rice. And prices should ease further as the full impact of the recent tariff reduction is felt by January, he added.

Last week, Secretary Tiu Laurel said he expects rice prices to start easing by the middle of October as a result of the reduction in import tariff to 15 percent from 35 percent starting July 8. He said the full impact of the tariff cut may be felt in January 2025 as rice supply bought before the tariff reduction are fully consumed.

The move aims to lower the cost of rice, the country’s main food staple that has significantly contributed to high inflation rates due to its substantial weight in the consumer price basket. Economic managers estimate that the tariff reduction could lead to a decrease of around PHP5-PHP7 per kilo of rice.

DA data showed that between December 2023 to May 2024, rice importation averaged 422,000 metric tons per month, exceeding consumption by 102,000 tons per month. This resulted in an excess of approximately 612,000 metric tons of imported rice at the higher 35 percent tariff, enough to cover nearly two months of consumption.

Ahead of the tariff reduction, rice imports decreased to around 176,000 metric tons per month in June and July. It increased to 385,000 metric tons in August, data showed.

Higher freight costs and strong demand from Indonesia and Malaysia are also keeping global prices of rice elevated. ###