Spanish
Santo Domingo.- The party Fuerza del Pueblo (FP) accused this Monday the Government of carrying out "an uncontrolled import policy" that violates previous agreements and threatens the country's food security, including the rice sector, for which it requested the suspension of the entry of the cereal for the remainder of 2025, "except for the legal exceptions already established".
"The national market has been flooded with imported rice, which has caused a serious marketing crisis and threatens to bankrupt thousands of small producers and millers," said Héctor Acosta, from the Agri-Food Sub-Cabinet of the FP, in a statement read at a press conference.
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According to data cited by Acosta, during 2024, 4.7 million quintals of rice were imported for a value of 152.7 million dollars, a figure well above what was agreed upon in the National Rice Commission (CONA). Of that total, 4 million quintals were authorized by the government itself, despite the commitment that in 2025 only 23,300 metric tons free of tariffs would be allowed to enter, under decree 693-24. At the same time, he said that there are "well-founded suspicions" that the Government has continued to grant Health Certificates to rice imports from countries outside the DR-CAFTA treaty, which would constitute a flagrant violation of the established agreements. The last official inventory, conducted in June, showed 7.64 million quintals of rice in existence, 2.84 million more than needed to cover four months of consumption. To this is added the new harvest, which arrives with excellent yields, further aggravating the problem of storage and marketing, he assured.
