Philippines: Grain and Feed Update
Responding to inflationary pressures, the Philippine government is set to liberalize rice imports by converting Quantitative Restrictions to tariffs. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed legislation to this effect, with a reconciled bill approved by a Bicameral Conference Committee on November 28, 2018. President Duterte is expected to sign the appropriate Republic Act into law before the end of 2018, according to press reports. No immediate changes to rice imports are expected, as ample shipments have already been booked. Post concurs with the official USDA wheat and rice estimates. For corn, area harvested in MY 2017/2018 was lowered modestly to reflect the most recent official estimates.
