The Department of Trade and Industry, and its attached agency Board of Investments have revealed that a group of Cambodian rice dealers is exploring the possibility of selling rice to the Philippines, as another alternative aside from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand, among others.
In a media briefing, BoI managing head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said he and Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, on Thursday, had a meeting with the team of Green Trade Company or GTC, formed as a public enterprise in a state-owned enterprise, which is under the technical supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and under the financial supervision of the Ministry of Economic and Finance of Cambodia.
Pascual bared that the Green Trade Company was responsible for providing rice imports to a certain nation in Southeast Asia, which also supplies rice to the Philippines.
“There is an ongoing talk between the DTI and the Green Trade Company to directly import rice to them, instead of getting imports to that Southeast Asian country. Even though they are private traders, with the Philippine government as they are protected by the Rice Tariffication Law which allows imports from foreign traders,” Rodolfo told reporters.
The meeting of the DTI team was between Chan Sok Ty of the Royal Government of Cambodia and in-charge as CEO of GTC, and the president of Cambodia Rice Federation Okhna Chan Sokheang.
“But we are still exploring the transaction, as this still depends on the price. But we see the strategic importance of having a relationship with Cambodia with rice. But this is not a government initiative. It is the private sector of Cambodia trying to reach out to market possibilities in the Philippines,” Rodolfo told reporters.
3-M tons committed
For his part, Pascual said the GTC committed to deliver 3 million metric tons of milled rice exports to the Philippines.
“Preliminary meeting with GTC happened in Cambodia, and this meeting with us is the second one. Right now, they are still in the fact-finding stage, and they are still surveying the markets. But we can pursue this if they will offer a lower price. The expectation for preferential tariff remains at 35 percent,” Pascual said.