The Department of Agriculture (DA) said a bond worth 10 percent of the value of applied rice imports will now be implemented before the issuance of permits to ensure that applications will be fulfilled by traders.
The DA recently found out that around 1 million metric tons (MT) of issued permits for rice imports are not immediately being utilized, DA Secretary Francisco Laurel Jr. said during his confirmation hearing conducted by the Commission on Appointments yesterday.
Laurel said holders of rice import permits that are not immediately shipping supplies were asked to voluntarily surrender their documents.
The DA said it is still collating the total volume of rice imports equivalent to the documents returned to the government by traders.
“We have now put in place new systems, conditions for import permits. Each importer must provide a bond. Before, you only need P350 to have a permit and if you do not bring in supplies, nothing happens to you. Now, the bond will be equal to 10 percent of the value of the volume that they want to import. The must ship-out date is also lowered to 30 days from 60 days,” Laurel added.
The reduced days covering the ship-out date for rice imports was put in effect through DA’s Memorandum Circular 53 series of 2023 signed by Laurel on December 4.
“We have shipments coming from India, arranged by the government through the President’s intervention. I would not like to say the quantities (of the total upcoming rice shipments) because when I say them, prices of the commodity go up and down, so I want to protect the people from speculators,” Laurel said.
“What I can say is we are covered until end of January until early February,” Laurel added.
According to data from the Bureau of Plant Industry’s National Plant Quarantine Services Division, as much as 2.94 million MT of imported rice has arrived in the country as of November 16.
Bulk of the volume at 2.62 million MT, equivalent to 89 percent of the total shipments, was from Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Laurel also said during the same venue that current estimates by the Sugar Regulatory Administration show that the country may not need to import “too much” sugar.
“We feel that next year, we won’t need to import too much sugar. This year, the country imported a little bit much and there is still enough stocks in the market. The assessment of the industry and the government, maybe conservatively, we may only need to import 200,000 MT, assuming there are no adverse weather conditions we face,” Laurel said.
