‘P2 rice price hike only temporary’

MANILA, Philippines - The P2 increase in rice prices is only temporary, a Palace official assured the public yesterday.

Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said prices of rice will stabilize soon.

Coloma said the Department of Agriculture and the National Food Authority (NFA) attributed the hike in rice prices to “market forces” or the law of supply and demand.

“They believe that once harvest and planting season start, the
supply of rice will increase and push down prices,” he said over state-run dzRB.

The NFA had earlier said that rice prices would go up by P1 to P2 per kilo during the lean months of July to September.

The average retail price of well-milled rice is P42.19 per kilo. Regular milled-rice is priced at P38.93 per kilo.

NFA spokesman Rex Estoperez said 800,000 metric tons (MT) of rice imports intended to increase domestic buffer stock will arrive on schedule.

He said two Vietnamese state-run firms are shipping to NFA warehouses between May and August well-milled white rice.

As of June 9, some 459,400 MT of rice have been delivered to different NFA depositories.

Estoperez said the balance of 340,000 MT would be delivered before the end of August.

The NFA sells regular-milled rice for P27 per kilo and well-milled rice for P32 per kilo to prevent spikes in domestic prices.

The country’s rice stock remains sufficient for 74 days as of May, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Stocks in households remain sufficient for 39 days and those held in commercial warehouses for 21 days. Stocks held in NFA depositories would last for 14 days.

Of the present rice stock inventory, 52.6 percent is held in households, 28.9 percent in commercial warehouses and 18.5 percent in NFA depositories. –With Czeriza Valencia