THE country's rice imports surged to 2.3 million metric tons (MT) in the first six months of this year, marking a 24-percent increase compared to the previous year, data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed.

In its latest report, DA's Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said that rice shipments for the January-to-June period were higher than the 1.8 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

In June alone, rice deliveries totaled 160,448 MT, lower by 28 percent from 223,211 MT recorded in the same month in 2023.

For its part, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said on Friday that importers were delaying rice shipments to the Philippines due to issues with the legality of Executive Order (EO) 62. The group added that imports were actually arriving in record volumes before EO 62 was signed last June 20.

Citing data from the Bureau of Customs, the FFF said that rice shipments to the country between January and May 2024 averaged 431,085 MT per month. However, it dipped to 155,168 MT in June.

Last June, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) slashed tariffs on imported rice to 15 percent from 35 percent to "drive down" the retail prices in the country.

The latest rice import volume for the first six months of the year was covered by 3,182 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances released by the BPI to accredited importers.

The report also showed that Vietnam remained the country's top source of the staple during the period, shipping 1.71 million MT of rice or 74 percent of the total imports.

Thailand delivered some 349,731 MT of rice, Pakistan followed with 151,318 MT, and some 66,120 MT came from Myanmar.

The remaining volume, meanwhile, came from India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Italy and Spain.

Last year, inbound shipments of the staple totaled 3.6 million MT, down 5.9 percent from the record high of 3.82 million MT logged in 2022. For this year, the DA projects rice imports not exceeding last year's import volume.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), meanwhile, projected the Philippines to remain the world's leading rice importer, with inbound shipments likely to hit 4.7 million MT this year.

However, the DA said that the rice imports were not likely to hit the USDA's projection despite the recorded increase in the latest shipments of the staple.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa earlier said that there was an increase in importation because rice traders and DA agreed to increase importation due to the potential worsening effects of El Niño in the early part of the year.

As the dry weather phenomenon officially ended, de Mesa added that the El Niño's impact was not that severe, resulting in a volume loss of only 100,000 MT in rice production for the first quarter.

Regarding the production target, the department said the country aims to produce 20.4 million MT of palay (unmilled rice) or the equivalent of 13.7 million MT of rice this year.