Philippines: Corn TRQ Administration

The Philippines maintains a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for corn (H.S. 1005). Following the reduction of tariffs in 2022 and their extension in 2023, significant interest in how to access the in-quota tariff ensued, and in turn, so followed widespread concern among local stakeholders for the process being anti-competitive, outdated, and potentially inconsistent with the Philippines' commitments with trading partners. This report aims to examine how TRQ administration has worked for corn and identify the root causes of the problems. Until further reforms are made, the government's policy objective to provide relief from elevated prices via the temporarily lowered tariffs are likely to remain muted.