ENOUGH RICE A worker arranges sacks of newly milled rice in Nueva Ecija on Nov. 2. 鈥擥RIG C. MONTEGRANDE
Filipino consumers will be able to buy cheaper rice as early as next week after the Department of Agriculture (DA) reached an agreement with market leaders to limit their profit from selling this staple food.
鈥淏asically, we agreed that their profit for selling regular and well-milled rice should be between P3 per kilogram and P5 per kilogram,鈥� Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in an interview on Friday.
This means the retail price of rice in public markets should be around P43 per kg, which he stressed, can be felt starting next week.
De Mesa, also spokesperson for the DA, said this was one of the outcomes of the Friday meeting between the agency and presidents of large markets in Metro Manila.
Regular monitoring
He said as part of the agreement with market leaders, the DA will closely monitor retail rice prices in public markets on a regular basis to ensure this commodity remains affordable.
鈥淲e are monitoring 30 markets [in the] National Capital Region every day from Monday to Saturday. This is part of our monitoring efforts and we will be implementing stricter measures,鈥� he said.
According to De Mesa, traders told the DA in a previous meeting that they weren鈥檛 setting high prices when selling rice to retailers. However, he added retailers claimed they were being charged high prices for the commodity.
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鈥淚n the first meeting of the DA with importers and traders, they said prices being charged to retailers were not that high. But retailers were saying earlier that prices offered to them were high,鈥� he said in Filipino.
鈥楽tubbornly high鈥�
Citing reports from the DA鈥檚 Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service, De Mesa said prevailing prices of regular and well-milled rice averaged P50 per kilo although some markets are selling those for P40 per kg.
The DA had met with market leaders to address 鈥渟tubbornly high鈥� rice prices in many places despite the imposition of lower import duties on the staple food.
Rice inflation jumped to 9.6 percent in October from 5.7 percent the previous month, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed. It contributed 0.7 percentage points to the overall consumer price index.
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Per the statistics agency, around P9 of every P100 spent by the average Filipino consumer is used to buy rice.
In a recent meeting between Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and rice importers from Bulacan, traders said they lowered prices to around P38 per kilo, attributing the high retail prices to rice retailers.
鈥淚f what importers claim are correct, then retail prices of rice should be around the P45 level per kilo,鈥� Tiu Laurel said.
Based on the DA鈥檚 price monitoring, markets priced their local regular milled rice from P40 per kg to P50 per kg as of Nov. 6, higher than P33 per kg to P51 per kg in the same period a year ago.