Palay prices fall slightly in mid-Dec

MANILA, Philippines - Amid the ongoing harvest season, the average farmgate price of palay (unhusked rice) resumed its downturn in the second to third week of December, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The average farmgate price of palay fell slightly by 0.88 percent to P19.16 per kilogram in the Dec. 10 to 16 monitoring period compared to the previous week’s quotation. Year-on-year, this was higher by 5.62 percent.

As a result, the average wholesale and retail prices of well-milled rice also fell slightly.

The average wholesaler price of well-milled rice fell by P0.04 per kilogram from the previous week’s quotation of P40.05 per kilogram. Year-on-year this was higher by nine percent.

The average wholesale price of regular-milled rice also fell slightly during the monitoring period by 0.07 percent to P36.76 from the previous week. Year-on-year, this was higher by eight percent.

The average retail price of regular-milled rice at P39.41 per kilogram was up by 0.156 percent from the previous week during the monitoring period. Year-on-year, this was higher by 8.90 percent.

Edilberto de Luna, Agriculture assistant secretary and National Rice and Corn Program coordinator, said palay prices are expected to be stable within the first quarter of the year.

Domestic palay production is expected to have reached 18.8 million metric tons (MT) this year, slightly short of this year’s target of 19.07 million MT, but up from last year’s total production of 18. 44 million MT.

De Luna, said the country is expected to produce around 20.08 million MT next year.

 “We hope we can attain this. There have already been expansion of cultivation areas and increase in yield per hectare.