THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has intercepted high-grade rice from Thailand, a highly regulated cargo, as it competes with the produce of local farmers.

The BOC and National Food Authority (NFA) on Thursday inspected some 20 containers carrying Thai rice believed to be worth around P32 million. The rice cargo was apprehended by the BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service at the Manila International Container Port in May.

The said cargo, which arrived in two shipments from Bangkok in May onboard the Maersk Buffalo, was monitored by customs officials because of the “high risk” nature of the regulated commodity.

A month after the shipments arrived, consignee Kaye International Trading Corp. hadn’t filed the import entries for the rice, which deems the cargo abandoned and forfeited in favor of the BOC.

According to BOC Director Filomeno Vicencio Jr., a review of the shipments’ import documents show that the cargoes were properly declared in the bill of lading, but the goods were not covered by any import permit from the Department of Agriculture and NFA, the main government agencies that can give such documents to importers.

Vicencio said they’ve suspected the importers were hoping to obtain import permits for the shipment before filing for entry within the 30-day period allowed by the government.

“Even if they filed for import permit when the shipments arrived, they will not be granted one because they have to file before the date of exportation from the country of origin,” Deputy Commissioner Jairus Paguntalan said.

The forfeited shipments will be immediately auctioned off, BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales told reporters.

This is the second apprehension made by the BOC in two months after a shipment of smuggled onions—also classified as a high-risk commodity—was seized two weeks ago.

The NFA plans to import about 1.5 million metric tons (MT) of rice this year, and will allow the private sector to also import up to 500,000 MT. The Philippines is the world’s biggest rice importer.

Last year the government bought 2.35 million MT of rice at an average price of $750 per MT for a total contracted price of P75 billion.