The volume of rice imports as of mid-November went down by 16.7 percent compared to the same period last year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported.

Data from the DA-Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) showed that inbound shipments of the staple as of November 16 totaled 2.93 million metric tons (MT), down 16.7 percent from the 3.25 million MT of the same period in 2022.

For November alone, rice imports were recorded at 106,216.15 MT. Rice imports peaked in April at 516,895.173 MT.

Vietnam remained the country's top source of rice, shipping 2.61 million MT and accounting for 89.17 percent of total imports.

Thailand followed with 143,897.67 MT, Myanmar with 123,658 MT, and Pakistan with 30,325.21 MT. India also shipped 13,734.79 MT of rice to the country.

The remaining volume, 6,213.12 MT, was shared by Cambodia, China, Japan, Taiwan, Italy and Spain.

In separate data, BPI showed that it had approved 4,186 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs) from January to November.

From November 1 to 16, the BPI approved 604 SPSICs with a corresponding import volume of 484,379.79 MT of rice.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said that he ordered importers to quickly use their import permits to buy an additional 1 million tons of rice from abroad to ensure sufficient supply and affordable prices of the staple.

Laurel said he would cancel all permits not used within 30 days. Earlier, the DA said that it could better manage the supply of rice and avoid price surges by assuring import permits are used quickly.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), meanwhile, said that Laurel is "weighing all options available at his disposal."

With the current global rice situation, Sinag Executive Director Jayson Cainglet said that the government should see if the private sector is still willing to import or if the government should now intervene.

However, Cainglet said that importers given permits but failed to import "should be blacklisted and charged for holding the country at bay," adding they only import the staple when it is convenient for them.