The Philippines' rice imports in 2024 rose to a new all-time high of almost 4.7 million metric tonnes (MT) as the country turned to foreign supplies to plug its shortfall in domestic stocks and temper retail prices of the staple.

The Philippines’ rice imports so far this year have surpassed last year's level and can hit 4.2 million metric tonnes (MT) by the end of 2024, Department of Agriculture (DA) technical advisory group member and former undersecretary for rice industry development Leocadio Sebastian said.

Rice imports to the Philippines amounted to 2.8 million metric tonnes (MT) during the first eight months of this year, 19% higher than the 2.3 million MT in the same period last year, data from the country's Department of Agriculture (DA) showed.

Indonesia’s National Food Agency (Bapanas) is expecting a two-month delay in next year’s harvest due to a prolonged drought nationwide caused by El Nino.

The Vietnamese rice industry is set to benefit from the high demand and prices this year, with lower input costs leading to expanded profit margins for rice businesses.

Malaysia has agreed to import 100,000 tonnes of rice from India for 2020.

Vietnam exported about 4.54 million tonnes of rice for nearly 2 billion USD in the first eight months of this year, up 0.3 percent in volume but down 14.9 percent in value from a year earlier, according to the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (Agrotrade).

Cambodia’s rice exports to China have surged strongly after the European Union (EU) imposed duties on rice imports from the Southeast Asian nation, the World Bank (WB) said on May 6.

The European Commission (EC) on January 17 imposed tariffs on rice imported from Cambodia and Myanmar in a bid to curb a surge in rice imports from the two Southeast Asian countries.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are negotiating an urgent purchase of about 400,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand to replenish their falling stocks which were caused by severe droughts and floods, according to Thai media.

The price of Vietnamese export rice has hit a three-year high thanks to the rising import demands and the restricted svupply.

Food self-sufficiency is expected to be realised in Indonesia in 2018, and there will be no imports in 2016, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has asserted.

The Philippine National Food Authority (NFA) is planning to import more rice from Vietnam and Thailand in an effort to have a sufficiency of rice throughout the country this year.