The average farm-gate price of unhusked rice plummeted to a range of P8 per kilogram to P10 kg, particularly in Luzon, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
National Statistician and Civil Registrar Dennis S. Mapa told reporters in a news briefing that the PSA’s price monitoring showed that the farm-gate prices of wet palay declined in the third and fourth week of August.
In other provinces, such as those in the Visayas, Mapa said the average farm-gate prices of wet palay reached P14 per kg to P18 per kg during the reference period. The price of unhusked rice is usually higher during the lean months of July to September, when harvest declines significantly.
“Luzon in particular, we are seeing [in]
Region 3, we are getting low
numbers. I’ll just give you the rate, from P8 per kg to P14 per kg. This is for wet palay,” Mapa said. “So [prices] depend
on the region, but the lower-end were actually [observed] in Luzon.”
Central Luzon, or Region 3, is the country’s rice granary and includes Nueva Ecija, the Philippines’s top rice-producing province.
As of press time, the price monitoring report, which the PSA said will be available on Thursday, has not been released by the agency. The PSA made the pronouncement after farmers’ groups complained that they are losing money as prices fell below the production cost pegged at P12 per kg.
Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing of the First District of Nueva Ecija disclosed during a recent hearing on the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law held at the House of Representatives that the farm-gate price of rice in her province has dropped to as low as P7 per kg.
Republic Act 11203, or the rice trade liberalization law, mandated the set up of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to bankroll initiatives that will improve the productivity of farmers.
Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said during the BusinessMirror’s Coffee Club forum on Thursday that the government has already collected P9.2 billion from tariffs paid by rice traders.
“It is very likely that [collections] will breach P10 billion which will go to programs that will help improve the productivity of farmers,” said Lambino.
RA 11203 made it easier for traders to purchase rice from abroad as they only need to secure sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance and pay the corresponding tariffs for the imports.
As for the claim of the Federation of Free Farmers Inc. that rice imports were undervalued, the Department of Finance official said the group used international prices and not the reference prices that the Bureau of Customs had determined in consultation with the Department of Agriculture. Lambino said the government’s reference prices were based on historical data.
“Also, [the group] based their estimate on the volume of imports starting in January but [RA 11203] went into effect in March. Shipments in January and February should not have been included in the computation,” Lambino said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Image credits: NFA Photo