According to details, Philippines' The National Food Authority (NFA) has invited its private sector to participate in import of an aggregate volume of 805,200 metric tons of rice under the minimum access volume (MAV) for this year.

The total import volume comprises 755,200 Mt of country-specific quota (CSQ) and 50,000 MT of omnibus origin volume. The CSQ is broken down as following : China 50,000 MT, India 50,000 MT, Pakistan 50,000 MT, Australia 15,000 MT, El Salvador 4,000 MT, Thailand 293,100 MT and Vietnam 293,100 MT, said a statement issued by Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) here on Monday.

All rice imported under the 2015 MAV rice import program shall be levied with a tariff of 35 percent to be paid in advance to the Land Bank of Philippines, with the bureau of customs making the final assessment and valuation.

Importers are allowed to import well-milled rice with quality not lower than 25 percent brokens or other special rice varieties.

The NFA shall accept applications for the import under the 2015 MAV 15 days after publication of the notice. Interested parties should submit pertinent documents to the grains marketing operations department at the NFA central office and pay a non-refundable processing fee of Peso 50,000.

Corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorship, farmers' cooperatives and joint ventures can apply under the program.

Importers should be able to deliver the imported rice on or before November 30, 2015. Chairman, Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Rafique Suleman appreciated the efforts of Ambassador of Pakistan to Philippine Safder Hayat and his team.

A high profile REAP's trade delegation visited Philippine in the month of April 2015 and with the support of Ambassador of Pakistan had meetings with officials of various government departments of Philippine.