Rice exports to Philippines soar

CAN THO – Vietnam’s rice shipments to the Philippines have strongly surged over the past few months, rocketing some 220% in volume year-on-year.

Farmers in the Mekong Delta region transport newly-harvested rice onto a boat. Vietnam’s rice shipments to the Philippines have strongly surged over the past few months – PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs indicate that the Philippines was the country’s largest rice importer in January-July, accounting for up to 37% of Vietnam’s total rice exports during the seven-month period. The Philippines spent some US$590 million to purchase 1.46 million tons of Vietnamese rice over the period, up 219% in volume and 171% in value against the year-ago period.

Overall, Vietnam shipped US$1.71 billion worth of 3.95 million tons of rice to foreign markets between January and July, up 0.7% in volume and down 14% in value, year-on-year.

in July, Vietnamese rice exports amounted to 598,620 tons, worth US$261.7 million, down 0.1% in volume and 1.4% in value against the previous month. The rice export price averaged out at US$437 per ton in July, inching down 1.3% month-on-month and 12.4% year-on-year.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, director of Tien Giang-based Van Loi Company, said the surge of rice exports to the Philippines is due to the country's changes of import mechanisms.

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte issued, on February 15, Republic Act 11203 liberalizing the import, export and trading of rice, and lifting quantitative restrictions on rice imports.

Rice imports from Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, are subject to a 35% tariff, in line with the act. This is the preferential tax rate offered by the Philippines for the ASEAN countries.

Despite the high increase in volume of Vietnam’s rice exports to the Philippines, the average rice export prices fell by 15% year-on-year to US$402.9 per ton over the past seven months, Phong said.