The tax collection from rice imports under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) dropped to P1.71 billion as of February 14, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported on Monday, as rice import volume was markedly down during the period as well.

In a statement, the DoF said that the Bureau of Custom’s (BoC) collection from January to February 14 was 23.1-percent lower from P2.22 billion recorded during the same period last year.