Rice prices continue downtrend in March

Rice prices in the market continued to be on the downtrend since the start of the year, according to government data, and economic managers are expecting prices to decline even further now that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the new rice law has been put in place.

As of the fourth week of March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the average retail price for regular- and well-milled rice were at P40.02 and P44.33 a kilo, respectively.

These were lower by 3.77 percent and 1.84 percent from the levels in January. Prices have yet to stop easing since.

With the release of the Rice Import Liberalization Law’s IRR, the number of players participating in the rice trade is expected to rise and so is the volume of affordable rice in the market.

The IRR lays down the process by which would-be traders can import rice. The government is expecting about 2 million metric tons (MT) of rice to enter the country this year following the industry’s deregulation.

Economic managers said the law could cut retail rice prices in half—lower than the subsidized rice provided by the National Food Authority (NFA) at P27 a kilo—and ease inflation by 0.5 to 0.7 percentage point.

While industry groups are cynical that the policy would depress rice prices significantly, Socioeconomic Planning Undersecretary Rosemary Edillon said market conditions dictated that the influx of rice in the market would bring prices down.

As to consumers who currently rely on subsidized rice, NFA Acting Administrator Tomas Escarez said those who relied on NFA rice have until August before the agency’s stocks run out.

The law’s IRR does not mandate the agency to continue selling the staple. In cases of emergencies, it may provide NFA rice to affected areas provided that it would be coursed through local government units or the Department of Social Welfare and Development.