Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Medco: Rice still tops import commodity list
RICE is still in the top list of Mindanao's imported commodities as of the first semester of 2008, accounting for US$196 million worth of imports or 23.80 percent of the total value of imports to Mindanao.
In a report furnished by the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco), it said that for the first six months of the year, Mindanao's imported rice registered an almost two-fold increase compared to its value of US$66 million in 2007.
Mecdo said this was attributed to the recent rice crisis that increased the demand for rice importation.
It added that 77 percent of Mindanao's imported rice for the period was supplied by Vietnam, while the remaining 23 percent came from New Zealand and Thailand.
Earlier, William Baranggan, provincial agricultural statistics officer of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) in Davao City, said Mindanao, particularly Davao City, will probably be importing rice in the coming years, adding that Davao City could not have rice sufficiency unless some hectarage for rice will be developed.
"Davao City's rice production could not feed the entire city because it has only less production while the population is growing, that's why we really need other provinces," Baranggan said.
Meanwhile, other imported products recorded during the period are semi-finished products or iron or non-alloy steel, wheat and meslin, and kraftliner. (JGRS)
