DA to intervene if rice prices are ‘unrealistically high’

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is willing to intervene if rice prices become “unrealistically high.”

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. issued the statement after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that rice inflation slowed to 5.1 percent last month from 9.6 percent. in October.

“If international rice prices continue to decline, the peso remains stable and tariffs remain low, we will most likely see the price of well-milled rice drop even further in the coming months,” Laurel said.

President Marcos Jr. had earlier reduced rice tariffs from 35 percent to 15 percent until 2028 as part of efforts to curb high retail rice prices.

“The DA (Department of Agriculture) is willing to intervene in the market if rice prices remain unrealistically high, especially with the additional P5 billion provided by President Marcos to support the Rice for All program and the P29 program (for kilo of rice). ”he added.

The agency recently launched the Rice for All program, which offers this staple food at P40 per kilo in various public markets in Metro Manila to offer cheaper rice options.

Initially priced at P45 per kilo, rice under the program was recently reduced to P43 and further reduced to P40 per kilo, aiming to reduce retail prices that remain high despite the easing of global quotations of rice and substantial tariff reductions.

The prevailing retail prices of well-milled and regular imported rice in selected markets in Metro Manila are P45 per kilo, respectively, according to the Prosecutor’s Office’s latest price monitoring report. Local retail prices are P45 per kilo for well-milled rice and P42 per kilo for regular rice.

Vegetables, expensive meat

Meanwhile, PSA figures showed vegetable and meat inflation accelerated to 5.9 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.

Agriculture Undersecretary Arnel de Mesa said the series of storms that hit the country’s vegetable-producing areas and the persistent threat of African swine fever (ASF) boosted retail prices of commodities.

Despite this, the DA official allayed concerns about the upcoming holiday, pointing to a sufficient supply of key agricultural products such as rice, vegetables and meat.

“Our rice supply this December is of good volume. Although we expect local production to decline, we can expect our imports to reach 4.5 million metric tons (MMT),” De Mesa told reporters in the Philippines during a briefing on Thursday.

He added that the Philippines could have more than 100 days of national inventory by the end of the year, which would be enough to sustain the country until the next harvest, considering the additional rice shipments arriving.

“Our stakeholders in the livestock sector assured us of good supply of pork and chicken. There are no problems in the highlands (vegetables), and while there was a slight shortage in the lowlands (vegetables), it is now recovering, so we have no problems,” De Mesa said.

Image credits: Nonoy Lacza