The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has collected P17.9 billion in duties from 2.8 million metric tons (MT) of rice shipments entering the country from January 1 to December 10 this year.

Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that revenues from rice imports during this period came from shipments worth a combined amount of P51.37 billion.

Preliminary data show that import duties collected from Jan. 1 to Dec. 10 rose by 21.9 percent from P14.72 billion during the same period in 2020.

“For the monitoring of rice imports, the table shows that for the period December 1-10, 2021, volume of rice imports grew by 487.9 percent, while revenue also increased by 475.8 percent. Cumulatively, it grew by 23.4 percent in volume and 21.9 percent in revenue,” Guerrero said during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) executive committee (Execom) meeting.

From Dec. 1-10 of this year, rice import volumes reached 118,656 MT from 20,181 MT recorded during the same period in 2020.

For the period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 10, 2021, the volume of rice imports totaled 2.797 million MT, up from 2.266 million MT during the same period last year.

Guerrero said that as a result of the continuous decline of the price of rice in the world market since May 2021, the average value of rice per MT dropped by 1.7 percent to P18,532 per MT for the period Jan. 1 to Dec. 10 compared to the P18,854 per MT recorded during the same period last year.

Import duties collected from rice imports beginning March 5, 2019 go to the annual P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) as provided under Republic Act (RA) No. 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

The RCEF is used to finance programs that will sharpen the competitiveness of palay growers by way of providing them easy access to fertilizer, farm machinery and equipment, high-yield seeds and cheap credit; and offering skills training programs on farm mechanization and modern farming techniques.

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