Farmers Seek Additional 30% Tax on Imported Rice in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Two of the Philippines’ most influential farmers’ organizations have asked the Tariff Commission to impose an additional 30 percent safeguard duty on imported rice, arguing that the continued surge in imports is hurting local producers. In a joint petition, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the Magsasaka Party-list proposed imposing the safeguard duty on top of the current 15 percent tariff to curb excessive rice imports. The groups said rice imports have averaged 3.446 million metric tons (MT) since 2019, nearly triple pre-law levels. Imports in 2022 and 2024 were at least 37 percent higher than the average in the preceding three years. Moreover, rice arrivals reached 2.9 million MT in the first half of 2026 alone, or nearly 83 percent of the annual average over the past seven years. The US Department of Agriculture also expects the Philippines to import 5.2 million MT of rice in marketing year 2026-2027, up from its earlier forecast of 5.1 million MT. According to FFF and Magsasaka Party-list, the steady influx of imported rice, especially during harvest season, has cut farmers’ real incomes by about P50 billion a year since the Rice Tariffication Law took effect. “Admittedly, we have to import rice, because our local production is not enough. The problem is that we are importing much more than we need,” FFF national manager Raul Montemayor said. “This results in oversupply which in turn brings down palay prices for farmers.” Meanwhile, the groups said the Tariff Commission has begun investigating their petition and will submit its findings and recommendations by September. They argued that the proposed safeguard duty would not significantly widen the price gap between imported and locally produced rice. Magsasaka chair Argel Cabatbat said a 30 percent duty would bring Vietnamese rice prices close to local rice, based on P25 per kilo of palay. Beyond safeguard duties, FFF and Magsasaka proposed a modified minimum access volume (MAV) system to better control rice import volumes and timing. /pai INQ