Price council wants more rice in market

A worker unloads commercial rice in front of a warehouse in Dagupan Street, Tutuban in Manila on Sunday. NINO JESUS ORBETA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) on Wednesday issued a resolution recommending that the National Food Authority (NFA) more than double its releases of rice to the market to help temper the rising price of the staple.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said this will enable the NFA to pump into the market more of the agency’s cheaper well-milled rice, priced at P32 a kilo.

The ideal volume should be more than double, or even triple the existing NFA releases of 4,000 tons a day nationwide, to provide consumers an alternative, Domingo said. The prevailing price of well-milled rice stands at P42 a kilo, up P2 per kg from last month.

No price increase 

The DTI does not expect further increases in rice prices as 800,000 tons of imported rice are expected to arrive by August, Domingo said. The country has 73 days’ worth of rice inventory covering those held by the NFA, commercial and households, he said.

Domingo, who chairs the NPCC, added that they are also strongly recommending that the NFA engage in “direct selling,” under which the agency will sell rice to private corporations, which in turn will sell to their employees.

Apart from rice, other agricultural produce—pork, chicken, ginger, sugar and garlic—have seen unusual spikes in their prices over the past few months, ranging from P2 to as much as P230.

Garlic saw the biggest surge as the price of the commodity shot up to about P300 per kilo for the imported variety and P180 per kilo for the local variety, according to a market monitoring from the Department of Agriculture.

Temporary spike 

Domingo assured consumers that the price spike is only temporary and may start normalizing in a month’s time as the reported shortage may be due to the truck ban policy being implemented in Manila. The delays in delivery may likely have been the reason for the price surge, especially since 70 percent of the garlic in the country is imported, he said.

The price of chicken increased by about P10 to P140 per kilo, as the hot weather during the summer months slowed down their growth, Domingo said. Prices, however, may start normalizing in one to two months’ time.

Diarrhea plague 

Pork prices have also gone up by as much as P30 per kilo to P220 a kilo, from P190 last month, as the country is being affected by the rise of pork prices globally because of diarrhea plaguing piglets worldwide.

Increases in other commodities such as sugar and ginger are not alarming and still within the suggested retail price levels, Domingo said.–Amy R. Remo