RICE arrivals rose to nearly 3.9 million metric tons (MMT) as of mid-September, surpassing the total level of imports in 2025, based on the latest government data.
Figures from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed that rice imports already reached 3.89 MMT as of September 17, exceeding the 3.39 MMT total shipments recorded last year.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the additional rice imports would ensure stable supply and retail prices amid the threats of El Niño on local production.
‘We need to have enough volume of rice in the country-both local and imported-so that retail rice prices will not spike next year,’ De Mesa told reporters in a media briefing on Thursday.
With El Niño forecast to persist through the first half of 2027, he earlier explained that this would affect the country’s dry season harvest around March or April.
Unlike last year, De Mesa noted that the Department of Agriculture (DA) did not impose an import freeze on rice as part of government preparations for the dry spell’s impact on the farm sector.
‘To those saying that we shouldn’t import, it’s a bit difficult because we are expecting a big problem due to El Niño,’ he said.
In 2025, the government imposed a four-month rice import ban to prevent a plunge in farmgate prices of paddy rice amid ample harvest and the absence of El Niño.
‘Our policy adjusts according to conditions that can affect inflation, supply, volume, and the overall condition of our country,’ he added.
The DA expects rice imports to reach around 5 MMT this year. If the outlook materializes, this would exceed the all-time high shipments of 4.81 MMT in 2024 when the country was also struck with El Niño.
In terms of production, the agency expects to lose 700,000 metric tons (MT) of rice output due to the dry spell, which is lower than the actual 1 MMT loss in rice production in 2024. ###