Gov’t blamed for rice prices

MANILA, Philippines—Blame last year’s price spike for milled rice to too little government imports amid a push for food self-sufficiency than to the “negligible” influence of rice cartels, according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

In a study published by the state think tank, senior researcher fellow Roehlano Briones and senior research analyst Myka Galang said a sharp drop in imports was “a more logical and evidence-based explanation” of the jump in prices.

According to PIDS, the average world price of milled rice dipped steadily month after month from an equivalent of P23.24 per kilo in January to P18.60 in December.

In contrast, the average domestic price rose steadily from P29.81 to P34.16. (For these numbers, Briones and Galang compared the price of Thai rice with 25-percent broken grains to its local counterpart).

This resulted in the differences between world and local prices shooting up over 12 months. The local price was 28 percent higher than global price in January and 84 percent higher in December.

The researchers noted a price spike in the June-December period—a jump of P3.82 from P30.34—while the supply was inadequate “due to the reduction in imports.”

In 2013, the National Food Authority imported 205,700 tons only, which were 638,000 tons less than the volume brought in in 2012.