MANILA: The Philippines plans to broadly extend its ban on rice imports until April to support farmers in the world’s biggest buyer of the grain, a move that’s likely to put further pressure on global prices.
The Southeast Asian nation will only allow inbound shipments for about a month in January, when it needs to bring in at least 300,000 tons of the grain from overseas, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told lawmakers at a hearing at the House of Representatives on Monday. The restriction, which was supposed to last for just 60 days, started on Sept. 1.
