The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) said it has submitted a formal request to the Tariff Commission (TC) for the reinstatement of the tariff rates on rice to 35 percent from Asean and to 50 percent from non-Asean sources,
Jayson Cainglet, Sinag executive director, said in a message to reporters over the weekend the group, together with Abono Party-list, in the request dated March 3 argued that rice tariffs at current levels negatively affected both consumers and producers, while causing revenue losses to the government.
Last year, the government reduced rice tariffs to 15 percent with the issuance of Executive Order (EO) No. 62 to lower the retail price of rice.
“The need to declare food security emergency and the imposition of MSRP (maximum suggested retail price) on imported rice are admissions of the failure of EO 62 in reducing rice prices,” Sinag said in justifying the request.
At the start of this month, the Department of Agriculture (DA) lowered the MSRP of imported rice to P49 per kg from the previous P52 per kg and from the original price of P58 per kg. The MSRP is currently imposed selectively in Metro Manila, key cities and other urban centers.
Sinag said rice tariffs could be raised back to their original levels as global prices are now lower.
It said the government lost P15 billion in revenues from July 2024 to December 2024 alone due to the rice tariff reduction.
Other agricultural groups back Sinag’s request.
Raul Montemayor, Federation of Free Farmers national manager, said in a separate message the price of rice from Vietnam could now be below P50 even if the tariff rates are adjusted upward.
“Our computations show that at current import prices, Vietnam rice with 5 percent brokens can be sold at P48 to P50 per kg retail even if the tariff is reset to 35 percent,” Montemayor said.
According to latest data from the Bureau of Plant Industry, 504,726.708 metric tons (MT) of imported rice arrived in the country as of February 27 this year.
Bulk of the imported rice supply arrivals were from Vietnam at 370,908.42 MT, equivalent to 73.5 percent of all shipments for the period.
Meanwhile, Danilo Fausto, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. president, said he supports the call to increase rice tariffs just to assure the funding of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
