Ensuring stable rice supply is DA’s main concern, says official

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday admitted that it cannot stabilize the prices of rice, saying that the bigger challenge is making sure there is enough stock.

In a Palace briefing, Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro said the cost of rice farming remains high.

“The challenge really is more on stabilizing supply, rather than the price,” said Navarro in the briefing.

“We need to rationalize our thinking that we cannot bring down the price (of rice) because the prices of inputs, especially fertilizers and seeds, in the international market are also going [through] the ceiling,” he explained.

READ: Agri officials see stable rice prices

Navarro said it was better to have a steady supply of rice at P56 per kilo rather than have it at P42 per kilo but have no supply.

“Even if we have low price but we do not have supply, then we have a problem. In other countries, for example in Vietnam, the price now is something like P48, and in Thailand, it is something like P52,” Navarro said, noting that they are almost the same as the local prices. The Philippines imports rice from Vietnam and Thailand.

READ: DA eyes SRP on rice as retail prices still over P50 per kg

According to the DA’s website,  rice prices as of Monday range from P50 to P65 per kilo depending on the classification.