Philippines mulls safeguard duty on rice as import surge hurts farmers

MANILA, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Monday
it is considering imposing a safeguard duty on rice to ease the
pain of local farmers hurting from a surge in imports of the
staple grain.
The Southeast Asian nation, which is one of the world's
biggest rice importers and often buys grains from its neighbours
Vietnam and Thailand, lifted a two-decade-old cap on purchases
early this year and replaced it with tariffs. The policy shift led to unhampered importation of rice by
the private sector, with this year's purchases so far reaching
2.4 million tonnes, way beyond what it needs to fill the supply
gap.
That helped bring down retail prices by 10%-13%, as of this
month, from a year earlier, easing Philippine inflation to the
lowest in nearly three years last month, from its peak in almost
a decade recorded in September last year. Local rice farmers suffered as a consequence, however, as
farmgate prices plunged, prompting farmers' groups and some
lawmakers to call for a review of the rice tariffication law.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who did not say how much
the additional duty would be, vowed to protect small farmers "by
not allowing additional imports especially this main harvest
season", which begins this month.
The Philippines' move to restrict rice imports comes at a
time export prices in Vietnam are near a 12-year low due to weak
demand.
"I have taken the necessary steps and the direction where we
will enforce legal measures during these times when we have
greatly exceeded the volume needed to fill up the slack in
national rice supply," Dar said in a statement.
Last week, Dar said the country's food security agency, the
National Food Authority (NFA), would "flood" the domestic rice
market with an additional 180,000 tonnes from its stockpiles to
bring down retail prices further. The NFA will aggressively buy local farmers' produce, at a
higher price than usual, to replenish its stocks.