The Department of Agriculture (DA) has shortened the validity of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-ICs) for rice imports to ensure that shipments would “arrive when needed” and would not “depress local production prices.”
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 38 which seeks to strengthen current import guidelines for plant products against unscrupulous practices and protect domestic farmers.
The amendments aim to prevent unscrupulous traders from “misusing and abusing” SPS-ICs to “avoid their legal responsibilities,” according to the document.
Also, the MC cut in particular the validity of SPS-ICs for rice imports to 20 days from 60 days.
Based on the MC, rice imports must be shipped out within 20 days and must arrive not later than 35 days from the SPS-IC issuance date for rice coming from Asean countries except Myanmar. Rice shipments from Myanmar and other countries must arrive within 65 days of the issuance of the SPS-IC, according to the circular.
“There is a need to ensure that imports should arrive when needed and not be used to depress local production prices. Hence, importers should take cognizance of local supply availability and avoid dumping of imports during local harvest periods to benefit our local farmers,” Dar said in the MC.
Dar ordered the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), which oversees the importation of plant products, to conduct a dialogue with concerned stakeholders to “refine” the new requirements under MC 38.
“BPI shall also conduct dialogues with both importers and local producers to assess local supply and demand appropriately,” Dar said.
Citing industry sources, a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report pointed out that MC 38 is “likely to restrict rice trade.”
The Gain report, which was prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila, has revised downward its rice import forecast for the Philippines for market year (MY) 2020-2021. A rice market year starts from July and ends in June of next year.
“Post lowers MY2020/21 rice imports from 2.6 MMT to 2.3 MMT [million metric tons] due to lower SPS Import Clearances issued to date. The Bureau of Plant Industry [BPI] issued 678 SPS-ICs from July to October in 2020 for 490,441 MT, down 53 percent from the 1,187,015 MT representing 1,462 SPS-ICs issued during the same period in 2019,” the report read.
“Moreover, the volume of reported rice shipments arriving in the Philippines from July to October of MY20/21 is 500,097 MT [metric tons], 40 percent lower than the same period last year,” it added.