The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said the continuous arrival of imported rice must translate to cheaper retail rice as the Philippines nears the peak harvest season.
In a Zoom interview, DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said although there is no maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for 5 percent broken imported rice yet, the price of imported rice must be cheaper.
“Dapat talaga ‘yung iba nito mababa na. So ang alam ko magkakaroon ng (The price of some rice varieties must be cheaper already. So, what I know is there will be another) separate discussion with the importers regarding this,” he said.
According to the DA Bantay Presyo (Price Watch), premium imported rice in Metro Manila sells from PHP50 per kilo to PHP63/kilo as of Friday.
The price per kilo of imported well-milled rice, meanwhile, ranges from PHP43 to PHP49; and imported regular-milled rice, from PHP36 to PHP46.
Local premium rice is at PHP43/kilo to PHP60/kilo; while the prevailing prices for well-milled rice and regular milled rice are PHP45/kilo and PHP40/kilo, respectively.
In terms of arrivals, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) logged more than 700,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice as of Feb. 26 –333,000 MT in February and about 374,000 MT in January.
“That is within the range set. Kasi ‘yung kailangan natin is (Because what we need is) 300,000 MT to 350,000 MT, perhaps maximum is 400,000 MT per month na requirement natin (for our requirement),” de Mesa said.
Meanwhile, he assured that traders and importers have agreed to limit imports during the peak harvest season.
“May kasunduan ‘yung March to April na hanggang 150,000 metric tons lang kada buwan para hindi masyadong madami ‘yung papasok (There’s an agreement that from March to April, imports will be limited to 150,000 MT per month to prevent too many arrival),” he said.
The DA said the move seeks to protect local farmers from unreasonable farmgate price of palay (unhusked rice) during the harvest season. (PNA)
