MANILA, Philippines — Rice millers and traders have pledged to maintain the buying price of palay, or unmilled rice, in a bid to help keep supply and prices stable and support farmers producing the country’s main staple, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The DA said that stakeholders committed at a consultation meeting over the weekend to buy wet palay at P17 per kilogram (kg) and dry palay for P21 per kg in key provinces like Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Bulacan and other areas in Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley.
According to the DA’s price monitoring, local regular milled rice was priced per kg at P33 to P48 as of Thursday, compared with P37 to P46 last year. Local well-milled rice per kg ranged between P38 and P54 as opposed to P40 to P55.
At the same time, industry players also agreed to import about 300,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice only until Feb. 28 this year so that shipment arrivals do not overlap with the local harvest.
Imported regular milled rice was sold per kg at P35 to P46 on Thursday, from P38 to P48 during the same period last year. Imported well-milled rice retailed per kg from P42 to P50, compared with P44 to P50.
The DA said the harvest season has already begun in Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya and is expected to start next month in Pangasinan, Bulacan, La Union, the Ilocos region, and other areas.
“Large harvest volumes are projected to come in by mid-March, with milling activity expected to increase further [in] April,” it added.
Harvest season
“Hopefully, we can maintain [the buying price] until the harvest season ends in April,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary and DA spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said in a press briefing on Thursday.
De Mesa said the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) issued on Jan. 19 a memorandum on the resumption of rice importation, which was banned for four months by President Marcos to stop the steep decline in palay prices.
But Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. emphasized that the government’s priority is to stabilize palay’s farm-gate prices. “Farmer prices are nonnegotiable. Whatever import volume we agree on, farmers must be protected,” he said.
According to the DA, the National Food Authority will not compete with private traders, as long as private traders purchase locally-produced palay at or above the agreed-upon buying prices.
Based on the BPI memo, the ports of Bataan and Poro Point in La Union were added to the list of those that can receive imported rice. All imported rice is subject to a 15-percent import duty.
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