Palay farmgate price continues to drop

MANILA, Philippines - The average farmgate price of palay (unmilled rice) continued to fall in the second week of January, the tail end of the main harvest season and the start of the new cropping season, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

For the monitoring period of Jan. 7 to 13, the average farmgate prices of palay was placed at P18.90 per kilogram, down 0.58 percent from the previous week, but up by 2.74 percent from the same period last year.

As such, price markdowns were seen in the wholesale and retail prices of well-milled rice.

The average wholesale price of well-milled rice placed at P39.88 per kilogram during the monitoring period fell by 0.28 from the previous week. This quotation, however, was higher by 8.11 percent from the previous year.

The average retail price at P42.82 per kilogram was lower 0.23 percent week-on-week, but higher 8.70 percent year-on-year.

Regular milled rice also sustained price cuts on both wholesale and retail trade.

The average wholesale price of regular milled rice at P36.63 per kilogram was lower 0.26 percent week-on-week, but was up 6.62 percent from the previous year’s quotation.

The average retail price of regular milled rice fell 0.46 percent to P39.12 per kilogram during the monitoring period week-on-week.  Year-on-year, however, this was higher 7.36 percent.

The average farmgate prices of both yellow and white corngrain, meanwhile, also fell further during the monitoring period.

The average farmgate price of yellow corngrain at P12.33 per kilogram was lower 0.82 percent from the previous week’s quotation, but was higher two percent from the previous week’s quotation.

White corngrain fetched a price P12.35 per kilogram, a reduction of 1.78 percent week-on-week and 18.34 percent year-on-year.