Rice supply and demand
The QR is an import quota that was extended once before in 2006.
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — The Philippines’ National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) announced that the Philippines will not seek to extend the Quantitative Restriction (QR) on rice, a domestic support program to help farmers. However, the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) stated that it will pursue a two-year extension on the QR to prepare farmers to compete with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) rice-producing countries, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) said in a Nov. 2 report.  

In 1995, the Philippines, upon its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), was allowed to implement a rice QR for 10 years. Under the QR, rice imports within the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) of 805,200 tonnes were faced with an in-quota tariff of 35%, while all imports in excess of the MAV were assessed with a higher 50% tariff, the report said. In short, a QR is an import quota, or an absolute limit, imposed on the volume of goods imported by a country, and is generally prohibited by
Article XI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

In 2004, the Philippine government applied for a seven-year extension of the QR, lasting until 2012. In December 2006, the request was approved by the WTO, subject to tariff concessions on certain agricultural products for member countries. According to the report, concessions included country specific quotas for rice: Australia — 15,000 tonnes; China — 25,000 tonnes; Thailand — 98,000 tonnes; and India — 25,000 tonnes.

Currently, the Philippine government is initiating a series of stakeholder consultations. Starting July 1, 2017, tariff concessions made under the QR will end along with the program’s expiration, and tariff rates will revert back to their previous, higher levels.