The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a memorandum order (MO) requiring traders to ensure that their rice consignments will arrive within a prescribed period of time.
The DA issued MO 28 dated November 11, which provided supplementary provisions for rice imports to ensure that these are safe for consumption and free from pests.
The MO strengthened the current registration procedures for importers of rice and also prescribed a validity period for sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) issued to eligible traders.
It effectively amended pertinent orders and guidelines issued by the DA related to the importation of rice.
“There is a need to strengthen registration procedure for importers planting materials and plant products, and specify the validity of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance, to safeguard from entry, establishment and spread of exotic plant pests and comply with food safety requirements,” the DA said in the MO, which was released to the media on Wednesday.
The MO clarified certain provisions of Republic Act 11203, or the rice trade liberalization law, pertaining to the deadline on the arrival of imported rice in the country.
“The actual product/consignment must be shipped out from the country of origin within the prescribed date in the approved SPS-IC and must arrive not later than 60 days from the ‘must ship out date,’” the order read.
The MO outlined the requirements needed for first time registration and renewal of rice importers. It also stipulated the requirements to prove that importers can store imported rice.
Importers are required to submit notarized application form with picture of the owner, mayors’ permit or business permit, proof of business establishment, proof of existence and authority to use storage or warehouse, updated and current registration with the Bureau of Customs, annual income-tax return with audited financial statement of the importer for the last three years.
The DA issued the guidelines eight months after RA 11203, which eased the restrictions on importing rice, took effect.
According to government data, some 2.99 million metric tons (MMT) of imported rice have arrived in the Philippines in October. The DA said imports could exceed this volume as there are still a number of SPS-ICs issued by the government that have not been used.
The United States Department of Agriculture has earlier projected that the Philippines’s rice imports this year will reach 3 MMT. The anticipated volume is bigger than the 2.5 MMT projected for China this year.
Planters have been urging the government to roll out safeguard measures that will cushion the impact of the surge in imports, which has pulled down the farm-gate price of the staple in recent months.
However, the DA was forced to abandon the plan after the National Economic and Development Authority warned that slapping safeguard duties on rice would increase the price of the staple and accelerate inflation.
The country’s economic managers have attributed the slowdown in inflation in recent months to the rice trade liberalization law, saying this helped cut the retail price of the staple.