Alright, stop, collaborate and listen! Rice is back as new safeguard actions: rice, rice baby – with appropriate apologies and appreciation to American rapper Vanilla Ice.

Fun fact: Rice is a staple food for over half the world’s population, with a history spanning over 9 000 years. Safeguard actions are all the rage in 2026. In only my second column of the year, ‘Safeguard, my mate’, I highlighted how it began to dominate the World Trade Organisation (WTO) news page.

To keep the trend going, in the space of two days in April, the ‘dead man walking’ of the Bretton Woods institutional trilogy – the WTO – was notified of two additional safeguard investigations, bringing the year’s total to 14. On April 13, the WTO announced that Morocco had notified its Committee on Safeguards that it had, on the same day, initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of certain types of rice, and on April 15, the Philippines notified that, on March 26, it had initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of certain types of rice.

You would recall that a safeguard investigation seeks to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or are threatening to cause, serious injury to a domestic industry. A WTO member may take a safeguard action to temporarily restrict imports, but only if the increased imports of the product are found to be causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury.

While Morocco might not be obviously associated with rice production, according to Morocco World News, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry launched a safeguard investigation following a complaint filed by two local companies, which account for around 78% of national production.

The investigation is a result of a 116% increase in rice imports over the last few years. The ministry indicated that this surge, combined with global market changes, has intensified pressure on Moroccan producers, including from excess supply in international markets and the easing of export restrictions by major rice-producing countries, which redirected larger quantities toward Morocco.

Apparently, Moroccan producers were unable to sell much of their 2025 harvest due to competition from imported rice, especially from Egypt and India. The investigation is expected to last up to nine months, with a possible extension to 12 months, if needed.

According to Vietnam+, the Philippines is the largest market for Vietnamese rice and has been experiencing strong growth in the early months of 2026. Statistics indicate that in the first two months of 2026, Vietnam’s rice exports to the Philippines accounted for 87% of the country’s total rice imports. The Philippines Agriculture Department has initiated an investigation into safeguard measures on imported rice that may lead to the imposition of additional tariffs or even import restrictions to protect local farmers. Domestic stakeholders presented evidence of increased imports causing injury, including a 37% year-on-year increase in quarter one, reaching 1.26-million metric tons, exceeding the Agriculture Department’s targets. The petition cites declining domestic market share, rising inventories, lower farmgate prices, and significant import volumes – mostly from Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam (85%).

As of April 24, a total of 17 safeguard investigations had been initiated. The safeguard investigations are: April 24; India – soda ash; April 23, Canada – certain wood goods; April 17, Madagascar – certain juices, nectars and non-alcoholic beverages; April 17, Madagascar – certain tableware, kitchenware, and household and packaging articles; April 10, Zimbabwe – fibreboards; April 10, Zimbabwe – doors; March 27, the EU – grain-orientated electrical steel; March 18, Canada – certain vegetable goods; March 11, the Russian Federation – tinplate (certain flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel) imported into the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union; February 10, the Philippines – ceramic tiles; January 23, Australia – fabricated structural steel; January 6, Madagascar – dry pastries and breakfast cereals; January 6, Madagascar – plastic pipes and tubes and accessories; January 6, Türkiye – polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin; January 6, Türkiye – terephthalic acid; and January 6, Türkiye – other paper and paperboard.