FARMGATE prices of palay jumped by 38.6 percent year-on-year in February 2024, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the data, the average farmgate price of unmilled rice reached P25.21 per kilo in February 2024, compared with the P18.19 per kilo recorded in February 2023.
PSA data also showed that palay farmgate prices rose 1.2 percent from the average price of P24.92 per kilo recorded in January 2024.
“Farmgate prices refer to the prices received by farmers for the sale of their produce at the first point of sale net of the total marketing cost paid by the farmers,” PSA said.
“These prices are determined at the farmgate or first point of sale transactions and are also known as ‘producer prices,’” it added.
The highest increase was recorded in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), where average price posted a year-on-year growth of 52.2 percent.
The average palay farmgate price in CAR reached P26 per kilo in February 2024, higher than the previous year’s P17.08 per kilo.
PSA data also showed that the slowest year-on-year increase in farmgate prices was recorded in Eastern Visayas at 22 percent.
The average palay farmgate price went up to P23.2 per kilo in February 2024 from P19.01 per kilo in the same period last year.
On a monthly basis, the highest increase in February was recorded in Eastern Visayas at 20.1 percent.
PSA data also showed that the average farmgate price in the Bicol region contracted by 17.8 percent to P22.75 per kilo in February from P27.66 per kilo a month ago.
The highest average farmgate proce was seen in the Ilocos region where it reached P28.41 per kilo in February 2024.
This was followed by Western Visayas where farmgate prices averaged P26.68 a kilo; Central Luzon, P26.56; Cagayan Valley, P26.46; and CAR, P26.
The lowest average palay farmgate price was recorded in the Bicol region where it reached
P22.75; Davao region, P23.10; Eastern Visayas, P23.2; SOCCSKSARGEN, P24.11; and Caraga, P24.5 per kilo.
The PSA said the monthly data on the farmgate prices of palay are obtained from the results of the Farm Price Survey for Palay conducted on the last five days of the reference month.
Image credits: Bernard Testa