Philippines temporarily limits rice imports from Vietnam
HANOI : The Philippines, one of the world's biggest
importers of rice, is taking steps to temporarily limit imports of the grain
from Vietnam amid a big harvest at home, three rice traders and an agricultural
official said on Wednesday.
The traders said that the Philippines' department of
agriculture had suspended issuing sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance
for rice shipments from Vietnam.
The Philippines is Vietnam's largest rice export market,
accounting for 40per cent of its total rice shipments.
A spokesperson for the Philippines agriculture department
confirmed that it was managing the issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Import Clearance (SPSIC) in accordance with demand.
"We import only what we need, and that we have enough
supply at the moment, given the bumper wet season harvest," the
spokesperson said in a response to a query from Reuters.
The Vietnam Food Association, whose members are the
country's rice exporters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vietnam's rice shipments to the Philippines in the first 10
months of this year rose 12.3per cent from a year earlier to 2.09 million
tonnes, according to government customs data.
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