Local rice traders said over the weekend that unmilled rice prices went up by P1 per kilogram as the supply of the staple remains tight.
Traders in Intercity Industrial Estate also said palay prices may continue to go up until next month, or just before the peak harvest season.
“This is because of the supply of rice in warehouses is still thin and also because there are only a few farmers who are harvesting the staple.”
Rice traders also noted that other countries are already preparing for the possible impact of El Niño on production, particularly after India banned the export of non-basmati white rice and Vietnam and Thailand raised prices.
Meanwhile, Bantay Bigas is urging the government to buy at least “20 [percent] to 25 percent” of the fresh rice harvests of Filipino farmers.
Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said the government can buy the crop of farmers during harvest.
“The government should consider selling subsidized rice to make it affordable,” she said.
Subsidies to farmers should be the “immediate” solution of the government for now, besides tasking farmers to continue planting rice to augment the production losses in previous typhoons.
Estavillo also added that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as an agriculture secretary should also give “at least P50,000” to farmers whose crops were destroyed by previous storms.
“He should scrap the policies that allow the flood of imported rice. Really when it comes to food, especially rice, the government should not leave the trade of rice to the private sector.”
Rice may again be the cause of higher inflation in the coming months as Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that prices returned to levels that were seen prior to the implementation of a law that sought to bring down the price of the staple.
PSA data showed rice inflation averaged 4.2 percent in July 2023, the highest since February 2019 when the increase in the commodity’s prices was at 4.5 percent. The Rice Trade Liberalization Act was implemented in March 2019.
“Ngayon, hindi pa siya [rice prices] ganun kataas but I agree [the]observation na pwedeng ito ang magiging source ng future inflation natin,” National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said in a press briefing.
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