Two months prior to the imposition of the ban on rice imports, official government data showed that the average farmgate prices of unmilled rice fell drastically in a number of areas in the country. In a report it published on September 12, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) noted that the average farmgate price of dry palay fell by more than a third or 33.5 percent to P16.40 per kilogram in July, from last year’s P24.68 per kg. In August, the decline was slower at 27.8 percent but average farmgate price was still lower at P17.11 per kg compared to the previous year’s P23.71 per kg.
The average farmgate prices mean that planters in some areas are getting offers lower than the July and August levels, while some lucky ones were paid more for their crops. Industry sources, however, lamented that some planters sold their crop at a loss-P10 to P13 per kilo versus their production cost of P17 to P18 per kilo.
The speaker of House of Representatives claimed that quotations for unhusked rice in Isabela province fell to as low as P8 per kilo.
Following India’s decision to lift many of its restrictions on rice imports last year and the decision of Manila to cut tariffs, international prices went on a freefall this year and made it cheaper for local traders to bring in the staple from other countries. The government reduced tariffs, which were pegged at 35 percent for Asean countries and 50 percent for non-Asean countries, to 15 percent in July 2024. Rice output recovered in the first half of 2025, but the Philippines continued to buy the staple from other countries in huge quantities because of this policy.
Malacañang said in March that traders were lowballing farmers to explain the drop in rice farmgate prices. As a policy response, the government decided to ban rice imports initially for 60 days, beginning on September 1 or during the start of the rice harvest season. However, there are plans to extend this until the end of the year.
The goal is to encourage traders to purchase more local unhusked rice during the wet harvest season, when rice planters can sell more crops. This strategy is expected to prevent farmgate prices from declining, which could happen if imports continue to arrive during harvest. The measure may be extreme to some quarters, but with the 15 percent tariff on rice imports still in place, closing the country’s borders to foreign crops may be the only way to stop Filipino planters from incurring more losses.
The import ban is still in effect and its results will be known by the end of the year. The government must conduct a thorough assessment of the results of this policy after it is lifted to determine if farmers benefited from it and if retail prices remained stable during its effectivity. If it fails to achieve its objectives, then the President must heed the recommendation of the Philippine Competition Commission to scrutinize the rice value chain and find out where the discrepancies took place.