MANILA, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Mondayit is considering imposing a safeguard duty on rice to ease thepain of local farmers hurting from a surge in imports of thestaple grain.
The Southeast Asian nation, which is one of the world'sbiggest rice importers and often buys grains from its neighboursVietnam and Thailand, lifted a two-decade-old cap on purchasesearly this year and replaced it with tariffs.
The policy shift led to unhampered importation of rice bythe private sector, with this year's purchases so far reaching2.4 million tonnes, way beyond what it needs to fill the supplygap.
That helped bring down retail prices by 10%-13%, as of thismonth, from a year earlier, easing Philippine inflation to thelowest in nearly three years last month, from its peak in almosta decade recorded in September last year.
Local rice farmers suffered as a consequence, however, asfarmgate prices plunged, prompting farmers' groups and somelawmakers to call for a review of the rice tariffication law.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who did not say how muchthe additional duty would be, vowed to protect small farmers "bynot allowing additional imports especially this main harvestseason", which begins this month.
The Philippines' move to restrict rice imports comes at atime export prices in Vietnam are near a 12-year low due to weakdemand.
"I have taken the necessary steps and the direction where wewill enforce legal measures during these times when we havegreatly exceeded the volume needed to fill up the slack innational rice supply," Dar said in a statement.
Last week, Dar said the country's food security agency, theNational Food Authority (NFA), would "flood" the domestic ricemarket with an additional 180,000 tonnes from its stockpiles tobring down retail prices further.
The NFA will aggressively buy local farmers' produce, at ahigher price than usual, to replenish its stocks.
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Dale Hudson)