Agri officials see stable rice prices

MANILA  -Retail prices of rice are seen to stabilize, especially during the holiday season, owing to better production and the arrival of imported rice from India next month, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said officials expect prices to remain stable, predicting that levels won’t reach the P52 per kilogram level as observed earlier.

“Because we have enough production in other areas whose prices are not that high, it will balance out even though prices are a bit high in other areas,” he said in a radio interview.

READ: No rice price hike expected until start of 2024 — DA

According to the agriculture official, the 295,000 metric tons (MT) of rice from India is expected to reach the country in December.

It can be recalled that India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notification on Oct. 18 stating it would export 1.03 million MT of rice to seven countries: Nepal, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Guinea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Seychelles.

The Philippines received the highest allocation although India imposed a moratorium on exporting non-basmati white rice in July.

The DA official also said the domestic production of palay will improve, assuring the country of a buffer stock good for 90 days.

READ: Unmilled rice output forecast to hit record high this year

So far, palay output slightly rose by 0.21 percent to 3.79 million metric tons (MT) in the third quarter of 2023, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Among the regions, Western Visayas topped the list with 726,642 MT, accounting for 19.1 percent of the total volume. However, the volume was 14 percent lower year-on-year.

Cagayan Valley placed second with a share of 12.5 percent or 476,343.22 MT. INQ