By Aerol B. Patena
MANILA, (PNA) — The country has imported 214, 375.3 metric tons (MT) of rice which is within the minimum access volume (MAV) of 350,000 MT, according to the National Food Authority.
Latest figures from the NFA show that out of the 214, 375.3 MT imported, 8,675.30 arrived through the minimum access volume-country specific quota (MAV-CSQ) scheme of the agency while the remaining 205,700 were acquired under the government to government importation.
The MAV-CSQ allocates an import quota of 163,000 MT for Thailand, India, China and Australia which is further broken down as follows: 98,000 –Thailand, 25,000 –India, 25,000 –China and 15,000 –Australia.
A total 51,790 MT were already availed out of this allocation wherein Thailand was allotted 36,790 and 15,000 for India.
The remaining balance stands at 111,210 MT.
On the other hand, of the 8,675.30 MT of imported rice that arrived in the country, 2,195.70 were from Thailand and 6,479.60 from China.
The MAV scheme is open for farmer organizations and private importers.
Importers need to pay a 40 percent tariff equivalent to the volume of rice to be imported.
The food agency has earlier imported 205,700 MT of rice from Vietnam to boost its buffer stock.
It has recently stated that the government has no plans to import an additional volume of rice as the current rice inventory is enough for the country’s consumption requirement.