The Bureau of Customs (BOC) expects to meet the P10-billion target tariff collection for rice imports under Republic Act No. 11203, Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero said.
The agency has so far collected P5.889 billion since the law, also known as the Rice Import Tariffication Law, took effect on March 5, 2019.
RA 11203 liberalized the imports, exports and trading of rice, and lifted for the purpose the quantitative
import restriction on rice. It was crafted to address the rice shortage crisis in 2018.
The customs agency attributed to the new law the 422.25% jump in privately imported rice to 966,690 metric tons from March to June 2019 from 185,100 metric tons year-on-year.
It said the steady volume of imports is an indication it will be able to meet the P10-billion target in tariff collection for the year that will go into the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, created under RA 11203 to help palay growers and farmers’ cooperatives transition to a new rice regime.
