Price of rice spikes despite continued NFA importation

MANILA, Philippines—Government efforts failed to counter the continued increase of the price of commercial rice, as revealed by the latest data released Monday by Philippine Statistics Authority- Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (PSA-BAS).

In a report aired on Radyo Inquirer 990 AM, PSA-BAS reported the upward swing of the price of well-milled rice in both wholesale and retail levels, despite continued importation of the National Food Authority (NFA).

The average wholesale price of well-milled rice is P41.24 per kilo, which is 0.10 percent higher from last week’s price of P41.24 per kilo, and 17.19 percent higher compared to last year’s price of P 35.19 per kilo.

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

On the other hand, the retail price of well-milled rice costs P43.75 which posted a 0.16 percent  increase from last week’s price of P43.68 per kilo, and was 18.21 percent higher than previous year’s quotation of P 37.01 per kilo.

Meanwhile, minimal price increments were posted for average wholesale and retail price levels of regular-milled rice.

The average price of wholesale regular-milled rice amounts to P38.47 per kilo, a 0.03 percent  increase from last week’s price of P38.46 per kilo and 19.88 percent relative to last year’s posting of P32.09 per kilo. While the retail price of P40.34 per kilo for regular-milled rice is 0.02 percent higher than last week’s price of P40.33 and 18.93 percent spike from 2013’s record of P33.92 per kilo.

The farmgate price of rice of P21.53 per kilo is 0.53 percent higher than last week’s price quotation of P17.53 per kilo.

Presidential Adviser for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis Pangilinan earlier last week directed the NFA to increase the release of daily rice stock from 6,000 metric tons to 10,000 metric tons in a bid to cushion the effects of increasing price of rice.

Also, last July, the NFA Council approved an additional importation of 500,000 metric tons of rice worth P10.27 billion to counter the rising price of rice and to buffer its stock.

The NFA currently sells regular well-milled rice for P27 per kilo while well-milled rice costs P32 per kilo.