PRECIOUS GRAIN Harvesting palay is a community effort in the village of Pogomboa in Aguilar town, Pangasinan province. With the tax reform law raising production costs, consumers are expected to bear the increase in the prices of rice in the market. INQUIRER file photo / WILLIE LOMIBAO
The continuous increase in the prices of palay, rice and corn remains a threat to the country’s state of food security as majority of Filipinos rely on these grains for their daily food consumption.
Based on the latest price monitoring report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), prices are still on an upward trend 37 weeks since it started increasing in January.
As of the second week of September, the average buying price for palay reached another new high at P23.04 a kilogram (kg), up 17.43 percent compared to its price a year ago.
Similarly, average prices of rice in the market are also at their highest. A kilo of regular milled rice were sold at an average of P45.71 while a kilo of well-milled rice cost P48.93. Compared to prices in the same period last year, these are higher by 20.26 percent and 15.73 percent.
Meanwhile, average farm-gate price for yellow corn was pegged at P14.71 a kilo –- higher by 30.18 percent from last year.
After typhoon Ompong ripped through the regions of Cordillera, Ilocos, Cagayan and Central Luzon, where most of the country’s top rice and corn-producing provinces are, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is already bracing itself for the expected decline in the production volume for both crops this year.
Losses in agriculture were forecasted to reach P7 billion after the strike of typhoon “Ompong,” but the latest report from the DA showed it has almost reached P17 billion, affecting a total of 636,908 hectares of agricultural areas with an estimated volume of production loss at 731,294 metric tons (MT).
Rice contributed to the largest share of damage at P11.45 billion.
With an expected shortfall in the supply of rice and corn, which could trigger prices to go even higher, the National Food Authority’s (NFA) management body has already proposed to import another 250,000 MT of rice this year, while private feed millers were allowed by the DA to import 200,000 MT of corn.
The NFA’s request, once approved by its Council, will bring the agency’s imports for 2018 to a million ton, and would be used to flood the market with affordable rice priced at P27 and P32 a kilo, depending on the quality.
The pending proposal is apart from the 250,000 MT of rice that were put on standby by the Council earlier this month. The said tranche will be used for next year. /jpv
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