A rice vendor in Quezon, Metro Manila (Photo: Reuters)Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered ahalt in rice imports after prices of the staple fell more than a fifth duringthe last nine months, hurting millions of local famers.
Duterte and Secretary of Agriculture William Dar discussed the policy directiveon November 20, a Department of Agriculture spokesman said.
Earlier, Duterte told a news conference thatthe rice import suspension was necessary because it is now the harvest time. However,experts were suspicious whether the halt will help lift rice prices, which havefallen more than 20 percent over the last nine months.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the volume of rice imports droppeddrastically in October to 85,000 tonnes from a monthly average of 254,000tonnes during January-September.
Rice imports surged after Manila lifted a two-decade-old cap on annualpurchases to replace it with tariffs at levels critics called insufficient toprotect farmers.
The Philippines, which often buys rice from Southeast Asian neighbours Vietnamand Thailand, has imported 2.9 million tonnes this year, more than double theannual average in recent years, to dislodge China from the top spot among importers./.
VNA
