THE Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the Magsasaka Party-list are proposing a 30-percent safeguard duty on rice imports, saying local farmers need protection from the import surge that followed the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
Enacted in 2019, the RTL lifted absolute limits on the volume of rice that can be imported into the country.
In a statement Monday, the two groups asked the Philippine Tariff Commission to impose the import surcharge. Under Republic Act 8800 (Safeguard Measures Act of 2000), such taxes must be set high enough to discourage import volumes that have caused or threaten serious injury to local producers.
In their petition, the groups said rice imports have averaged 3.446 million tons a year since the RTL took effect in 2019 — nearly triple the previous average.
Imports in 2022 and 2024 jumped by at least 37 percent over the previous three-year averages, and an even bigger surge is expected this year.
Some 2.9 million tons were imported in the first half of the year alone, about 83 percent of the average annual volume over the past seven years.
Data from the Department of Agriculture’ Bureau of Plant Industry show that rice imports from January to June hit an all-time high of nearly 2.75 million metric tons (MT). It surpasses the previous record of 2.34 million MT set in 2024, when the country was hit by the El Niño and La Niña weather disturbance.
The first-half total also marks an increase of more than 20 percent over the 2.29 million MT imported in the same period last year.
The FFF and Magsasaka Party-list said that these surges, particularly during harvest season, have cut farmers’ income by roughly P50 billion a year in real terms since the RTL was enacted.
The Tariff Commission is investigating whether the recent import surge has significantly harmed local rice farmers, as the groups claim. It will release its findings and recommendations this September.
The FFF, citing Philippine Statistics Authority data, said imports now average 23.5 percent of the country’s total rice requirement — more than double the 2015-2018 rate. As a result, the market share of local farmers share fell 14.5 percentage points, from 89.5 percent before the RTL, to an average of 76.5 percent since the law took effect.
FFF national manager Raul Montemayor said that while the country needs to import rice when local production falls short, the import volume far exceeds actual need, creating an oversupply that affects palay prices.
Studies show that the excess volume of imports has grown over the years, peaking at nearly 2 million tons in 2024, the FFF said.
Even last year, when an import ban was imposed in the fourth quarter, total imports still exceeded the supply gap — including a two-month buffer stock allowance — by almost a million tons.
The proposed 30-percent safeguard duty, on top of the current 15-percent tariff, will help address the problem, the groups said.
Magsasaka chairman Argel Joseph Cabatbat illustrated the effect: rice bought from Vietnam at $450 with the existing 15-percent tariff lands at around P34 per kilo wholesale. Adding the proposed safeguard duty would push the cost to roughly match the wholesale price of local rice sourced from palay bought at P25/kg.
The groups also want a modified Minimum Access Volume (MAV) system that would let government manage import inflows more proactively, while staying consistent with World Trade Organization rules.
