THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said the 61.8-percent year-on-year decline in the country’s rice imports as of February 14 may have been partly caused by the stringent rules implemented by exporting countries to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
BOC Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla told the BusinessMirror that the bureau is now looking closely into the factors that have contributed to the decline in rice shipments to the Philippines under the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law.
“I think trading of all goods, including foodstuff, have been affected by the regulations adopted by countries to avoid the spread of COVID-19,” Maronilla said via SMS.
“Also, the DA [Department of Agriculture] has been extra vigilant in the issuance of SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary permits] to ensure the health and safety of the domestic farm sector and the Filipino people,” he added.
Aside from COVID-19, Maronilla said it is also possible that traders have stayed away from the export market for now as farmers will start harvesting rice soon.
“Maybe they [traders] are anticipating that our farmers’ production would be huge [and that] they will have a hard time competing.
The harvest season is coming,” he said. In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the BOC said it collected P1.71 billion in rice tariffs from traders who imported 209,320 metric tons of rice from January 1 to February 14. This is lower than the 759,810 MT brought into the country during the same period in 2019.
Rice tariffs collected as of February 14 were also 23.1 percent lower than the P2.22 billion the BOC collected in the same period last year.
The BOC’s collection last year under the RTL law reached P12.3 billion from 2.03 million metric tons of private-sector imports.
P10 billion in tariffs
Despite this, Maronilla expressed confidence that the government will be able to collect P10 billion in rice tariffs this year. The amount will be earmarked for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“For us, it is still too early to sound the alarm. In fact, if you look at last year, when we implemented the RTL law around March, we were able to catch up with our target of collecting P10 billion. It reached P10 billion even before the end of the year, so collection could [pick up] anytime,” said Maronilla.
The RCEF was set up under RA 11203 to finance farm modernization initiatives, such as providing local growers with wider access to credit and training along with funds for mechanization and inputs, like fertilizer and high-quality seeds.
The excess of P10 billion collected for RCEF will also be used to finance other programs to boost the yield of farmers and improve their competitiveness.
Section 13(c) of RA 11203 states that 10 percent of the P10-billion RCEF shall be made available in the form of credit facility with minimal interest rates, and with minimum collateral requirements to rice farmers and cooperatives.
The rest of the RCEF will be set aside for farm machinery and equipment; rice seed development, propagation and promotion; and rice extension services, as provided under RA 11203.
On top of paying tariffs, the Department of Finance also said rice importers are required under RA 11203 to secure SPS-IC from the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry, which assumed the food safety regulation function of the National Food Authority under this law.
This requirement will ensure that rice imports are free from pests and diseases, that could affect public health and local farm production.