DTI allays fears of rice price hike

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo: No price hikes and shortage

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Trade and Industry on Thursday allayed fears of price spikes and an apparent shortage of regular milled rice in some areas, noting that these movements were merely “seasonal.”

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo also stressed that regular milled rice, whose price rose by P2 over the last weeks to P32 per kilogram, represented only a “very small category of rice.” Roughly 80 percent of the rice bought in the market is the well-milled rice, the price of which remained stable at a range of P33 to P37 a kilo.

“Prices in all the other categories of rice did not increase. The Department of Agriculture said that by the end of August or early September, the price [of regular milled] rice would have normalized with the start of harvest season. The shortage is seasonal,” Domingo said in a press briefing Thursday.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup further stressed that the reported shortage covered only a particular variant, which is regular milled. Supply and prices for the rest of the categories, namely the National Food Authority (NFA) well-milled rice, well-milled rice, premium commercial rice and the “fancy” or special commercial rice, remained stable.

Salacup also assured the public that the country’s total rice inventory remains healthy at 71 days’ worth, with daily consumption pegged at 33,000 metric tons. Of this volume, 22 days’ worth of stocks is held by the NFA, while the rest are held by commercial millers and households.

Meanwhile, Salacup disclosed that the NFA Council is currently in discussions on the possible release of a commercial variant of the well-milled rice. The council is reportedly looking at pegging the price at P32 per kilo.

The agriculture official, however, declined to cite further details, noting that he does not want to preempt the discussions of the council pending the issuance of a final decision.

The bottom line here, according to Salacup, is to give Filipino consumers more options in terms of rice varieties and prices.