Philippines Tells Importers to Buy More Rice to Stretch Supply

The Philippines, one of the world’s top rice buyers, has given private importers about a month to purchase an additional 1 million metric tons of rice to boost domestic supply until the next harvest in March.

“I’ve told them that if they don’t import the volume within 30 days, I will cancel the import permits because I don’t want to be held hostage by permits that were issued to them upon their request,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement released on Tuesday, referring to the private rice importers.