Philippine rice imports this year could double to 1.6 million metric tons (MMT), from 800,000 metric tons (MT) in 2016, according to the latest report of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In its latest report, titled “Grain: World Markets and Trade”, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) attributed the increase to efforts of Manila to prop up the dwindling rice stockpile of the National Food Authority.
The latest projection of the USDA-FAS is 14.28 percent higher than its July forecast of 1.4 MMT.
With this, along with the expected increase in demand for rice by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the USDA also revised upward its earlier forecast for global milled-rice production this year to 483.922 MMT, from 483.807 MMT.
“For 2016-2017, global production is raised even further to a new record. Trade is revised up on increased demand from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka,” the USDA-FAS said.
Data from the USDA-FAS showed that global rice imports this year would reach 43.322 MMT, 7.12 percent higher than the 40.440 MMT traded globally in 2016.
Philippine milled-rice production this year could reach 11.5 MMT, higher than the 11 MMT produced in 2016, according to USDA-FAS data. This is due to the expansion in areas planted with rice.
Figures from the USDA-FAS showed that rice harvest area in 2017 would expand to 4.6 million hectares, from 4.52 million hectares last year. The average rough rice (palay) yield this year could reach 3.97 MT per hectare, 2.84 percent higher than the 3.86 MT per hectare recorded in 2016.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said the country’s unmilled-rice output in January to September could go up by 10.16 percent to 11.69 MMT, from 10.61 MMT recorded in the same period last year.
Harvest area during the nine-month period is projected to expand to nearly 2.9 million hectares, from 2.67 million has a year ago.