Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) has initiated an investigation on preliminary safeguard measures on imported rice that may lead to the imposition of additional tariffs or even import restrictions to protect local farmers.
The probe covers various rice products, including paddy rice, brown rice, semi-milled or wholly milled rice and broken rice under AHTN codes 1006.10, 1006.20, 1006.30 and 1006.40. The investigation period runs from 2020 to August 2025.
The launch of the investigation came almost six months after local groups filed a petition to the DA to impose provisional safeguard duties on imported rice and initiate a safeguard investigation.
Under Republic Act 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, the agriculture secretary must determine within five calendar days upon receipt of a petition the existence of a prima facie case to initiate the investigation.
Safeguard is a type of a trade remedy that governments may use to protect domestic producers by raising tariffs or limiting import arrivals after determining that importation has caused substantial harm to local sectors.
The DA has found prima facie evidence of serious injury or threat to the domestic rice industry due to substantial increase in the volume of imported stocks after reviewing the petition, supporting evidence and publicly available data.
The notice said that upon the recommendation of the Policy Research Service – Trade Remedies Office, the Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the petition and evidence submitted are sufficient in form and substance to establish a prima facie case justifying the initiation of a preliminary safeguard measures investigation.
The law stipulated that in the case of non-agricultural products, the secretary must first establish that the imposition of safeguard measures will be in the public interest.
In determining such, the secretary must consider whether the imposition of the measure will result in a political or economic crisis or the extent to which such imposition will cause a shortage in the concerned domestic market, based on the law’s implementing rules and regulations.
The Philippines is the largest market for Vietnamese rice (about 2.76 million tonnes in 2025) and has been experiencing strong growth in the early months of 2026. Statistics show that in the first two months of 2026, Vietnam’s rice exports to the Philippines accounted for 87% of the country’s total rice imports./.
