With an Indian delegation visiting Philippines early September, the Centre hopes to nudge the archipelagic country to buy more rice from India, which is the world’s largest rice exporter.
In 2024, the Philippines’ total imported agricultural goods were nearly USD 20 billion, with key imports including semi-milled rice, wheat and meslin, oilcake, food preparations, and palm oil. Of this, India’s export share of agricultural products to the South East Asian country was only worth USD 413 million, accounting for about 2 per cent of the Philippines’ total agricultural imports.
“Philippines' is the largest importer of rice in the world, with imports in 2024 valued at USD 2.52 billion. However, there is significant opportunity to expand India's rice exports in the Philippines as, despite India being the world’s largest rice exporter – worth USD 11.83 billion in 2024-25 – India’s rice exports were only USD 48.91 million to the Philippines in the same period," a government official said.
This reflects a significant untapped opportunity for India in the Philippine rice market, the official added, with India's major exports to this market being bovine meat, groundnut, rice, and tobacco.
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"To build on this potential, a delegation of leading exporters of rice, and other key potential exports to Philippines like vegetables (onion and potato), groundnut, and meat visiting the Philippines in early September," the commerce ministry official said.
Additionally, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of India has been actively participating in key trade events such as World Food Moscow, which serve as vital platforms for promoting Indian agricultural and processed food products.
With India hosting the World Food India event – India’s largest food trade fair – from September 25-28, a delegation of the Philippines food importers is expected to attend it.
The delegation will also participate in the International Rice Conference on October 30-31, 2025, which will be a first-of-its-kind rice trade fair at this scale.
Further, the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region continues to be a significant export destination for India's agricultural and processed food products, with Russia being a major trading partner within the CIS.
During 2023-24, exports to the CIS stood at USD 480 million, which increased to USD 628 million in 2024-25, reflecting a strong upward trend.
Not only do trade fairs offer exporters substantial opportunities for networking and establishing new business partnerships, they also strengthen existing trade relationships across the CIS region.
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