No more fancy rice labels starting next week

Expect prices of rice to go down further next week as the government begins the imposition of suggested retail prices (SRP) on four rice varieties.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) held a consultation with industry stakeholders on Thursday and agreed that an SRP would be imposed on four of the five rice varieties agreed upon by the government and the private sector.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that they would now restrict rice labels such as Sinandomeng and Dinorado to avoid consumers from being tricked into buying fake variants.

The SRP would also be imposed for the protection of consumers who have been hurting from costly food items.

Prices of rice in the market reached record-levels a few months ago on back of tight supply, but are now slowly declining with the arrival of rice imports and the beginning of the local harvest season.

Starting next Tuesday (Oct. 23), rice could only be labeled as local or imported regular-milled rice and well-milled rice, and special rice.

“There will be no more use of Sinandomeng, fake Dinorados, no more Super Angelica, no more yummy rice. Everybody is selling fake Dinorado, people are claiming Sinandomeng, which we don’t have a rice variety of such kind,” the secretary said.

Local regular-milled and well-milled rice will be sold at P39 and P44 a kilogram, respectively, while imported regular-milled and well-milled rice will be sold at P37 and P40 a kilo, respectively.

Special or fancy rice variants such as Jasmine and Japanese, however, will not be regulated.

“There is no effect to our farmers. Actually we work out everything so that the farmers will also be protected,” Piñol said when asked whether the new policy would affect local producers.

This is not the first time that the agency resorted to imposing SRPs to regulate prices. Earlier this year, DA imposed a price point for regular-milled rice at P39 a kilo with the help of private traders. This was in response to the call of President Duterte to provide an affordable option for rice.

Other commodities with imposed SRPs include chicken and sugar. A kilo of chicken will be sold based on its farm-gate price with an additional mark-up of P50, while a kilo of sugar will be sold at P55.

Traders and retailers who will sell beyond the 10-percent margin allowed on the SRP face a jail term of five to 15 years and fines of up to P1 million, based on the Price Act of 1992.