The average farm-gate price of unhusked rice fell further in the fourth week of April even if the National Food Authority (NFA) has stepped up its purchases of the staple in recent months.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the average price offered by traders declined by 11.3 percent to P18.37 per kilogram, from P20.71 per kg recorded in the same period last year.
“On the average, the farm-gate price of palay at P18.37/kg posted a 0.6-percent decline from its previous week’s level of P18.48/kg,” the PSA said in its latest update on palay and corn prices published recently.
Traders appeared to be unfazed by the increase in the purchases of the NFA. The food agency announced that it has bought 3.073 million 50-kg bags of palay, equivalent to 153,665.5 metric tons (MT), from farmers in January to April.
The volume procured by the food agency was 55 times
higher than the 55,509 bags it bought a year ago. NFA OIC-Administrator Tomas
R. Escarez attributed the jump in the food agency’s purchases to its
“attractive” buying price.
The NFA has maintained its effective buying price of P20.70/kg as a way of shielding farmers from the detrimental effect of a more open domestic rice market.
PSA data showed that the drop in the farm-gate price was reflected in the wholesale and retail prices of well-milled rice and regular-milled rice.
“Relative to the previous week’s level of P39.91/kg, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice at P39.72/kg posted a downtrend as it had a 0.5-percent drop during the period,” the report read.
“Likewise, it decreased further by 3.5 percent from the same week of previous year’s level of P41.16/kg,” it added.
On a yearly basis, the PSA said the average retail price of well-milled rice fell by 0.6 percent to P43.52/kg, from P43.77/kg last year. Compared with the previous week’s level of P43.68/kg, the figure is lower by 0.4 percent.
Data from the PSA showed that the average wholesale price of regular-milled rice also went down by 3.8 percent to P36.18/kg, from last year’s P37.60/kg. On a weekly basis, the latest figure is lower by 0.17 percent.
“At the retail trade, the average price of
regular-milled rice at P39.15/kg
registered a 0.4-percent decrease from its previous week’s level of P39.29/kg. Compared with the same week in the previous
year’s level of
P40.03/kg, it was lower by 2.2 percent,” the report read.
Data from the PSA also showed that the average farm-gate price of yellow corn at P14.21/kg was higher by 0.5 percent, than the P14.14/kg recorded last year. On a weekly basis, the latest figure was 1.1 percent higher than the P14.05/kg posted in the third week of April.
The wholesale price of yellow corn, the PSA said, inched up by 0.4 percent to P20.26/kg, from last year’s P20.19/kg.
The average retail price of P24.86/kg was lower by 4.7 percent compared to last year’s P23.75/kg. On a weekly basis, the latest figure was 0.3 percent lower than the P24.93 recorded in the third week of April.
“The average farm-gate price of white corn at P16.10/kg during the period decreased by 0.2 percent relative to its previous week’s level of P16.13/kg. On [an] annual basis, it was also lower by 7.6 percent from the same period of previous year’s level of P17.42/kg,” the report read.
The average wholesale price of white corn at P22.68/kg was 13 percent higher than the P20.08/kg recorded last year. Relative to its previous week’s level, the figure was 0.2 percent lower.
The PSA noted that the average retail price of white corn settled at P29.12/kg for three consecutive weeks. However, the figure was lower by 2.8 percent from last year’s level of P29.96/kg.