(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants rice tariffs to be increased and an ongoing 60-day import halt extended, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said on Wednesday.
This will continue to help stabilize palay (unmilled rice) prices and protect the livelihood of Filipino farmers during the peak of the harvest season.
Tiu Laurel said Marcos had instructed the Department of Agriculture (DA) to prepare the necessary policies or orders.
“The duration of the import freeze and the possible increase in taxes on imported rice will be determined once we have more accurate data on supply and prices of palay at the farmgate,” he added.
The 60-day import halt began on Sept. 1 and is set to end on Nov. 2. It was initially recommended by the DA to address a plunge in the buying price of palay.
Farmers had said that farmgate prices had fallen to as low as P8 per kilogram and blamed this on an influx of cheap imported rice.
In 2019, the government enacted Republic Act 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law, which replaced quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariffs.
Marcos slashed the tariffs to 15 percent from 35 percent last year in a bid to address rising prices of rice.
The DA said the rice import suspension had led to farmgate prices rising to around P14/kg, but these started dropping again as the peak of the main harvest season approaches as well as the impact on quality due to heavy rains.
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