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Bringing
down the price of rice will be a tall order this year
for the government because of the surge in oil prices
and the tightness of supply of other grains in the world
market, according to Jessup Navarro, administrator of
the National Food Authority.
“The
cost of production has been going up because of the
increasing cost of fertilizers, which are
petroleum-based. Any increases in the price of oil will
cause adjustments in the cost of production,” he said.
Besides
high oil prices, “the increasing tightness in the supply
of other foodstuffs such as wheat has caused an increase
in the demand for rice,” he said.
Based on
the most recent price data gathered by the Bureau of
Agricultural Statistics, regular milled rice sells at
P26 per kilogram on retail. Just two years ago, it was
selling at P21 per kilo.
Navarro
said the high cost of domestic production has prompted
the government to increase its palay buying price to P11
per kilo from P10 per kilo. He added commercial traders
are paying more since farmers now ask P13 for every kilo
of palay.
“The
rule of thumb is to multiply the ex-farm price by two
due to the costs incurred in turning palay into edible
rice, [and you will arrive at] the existing price at the
retail level,” said Navarro.
He also
noted that demand for rice is on the upsurge because
more Filipinos have shifted away from breads and other
flour-based foodstuffs, which have become more expensive
in recent months because of the dearth of wheat in the
international market.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap assured consumers,
meanwhile, the summer crop will bring some relief and
that there will be no “food crisis” because consumers
could expect enough rice this year with the good weather
in the first semester, coupled with the intervention
programs of his department.
All
these factors, he said, would help government hit its
production target of 17.3 million metric tons,
representing “92-percent rice self-sufficiency level.”
Yap said
he does not “see a food crisis, which means an absence
of food or rationing and food lines. I do not see that
on the basis of the food production that has been
programmed, and the onset of La Niña that will bring
rain to a lot of our rain-fed areas.”
Moreover, he said, President Arroyo has secured a
commitment from Vietnam, one of the world’s largest rice
exporters, to sell the Philippines enough rice to help
prop up local supply.
But
other reports say
Vietnam
has only committed one metric ton or about half a ton
less than the 1.4 to 1.5 metric tons the Philippines buy
from them annually. |
