The Department of Agriculture (DA) has said there is no reason for rice retail prices to go up despite the enhanced southwest monsoon and super typhoon Carina.
“There’s no reason to worry that the prices of rice will increase because our harvest is good during the last dry season. We have enough harvest. our importations (of rice) are also on a high level),” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in an interview.
The price range of local regular-milled rice in Metro Manila remained at P45 to P55 per kilo for well-milled rice as of this week. according to the DA-Bantay Presyo (price watch).
Imported regular-milled rice, meanwhile, ranges from P46 to P52 a kilo, ., and P51 to P53 for imported well-milled rice.
De Mesa said the latest import volume of rice hit 2.4 million metric tons (MMT).
As of June 1, the country has an estimated volume of 2.16 million metric tons (MMT) of rice stock inventory, according to the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA reported earlier that the country had 4.68 MMT of palay (unhusked rice) production for the first quarter of 2024, which was slightly lower than the 4.78 MMT harvest for the same period last year.
Meanwhile, De Mesa, gave assurance of continuing aid to 9,198 affected farmers, as agricultural damage hit P203.38 million.
The DA regional offices have so far distributed 72,174 bags of rice seeds, 39,546 bags of corn seeds, 59,600 pouches and 1,966 kg. of vegetable seeds to affected farmers.
About P25,000 worth of loan under the Survival and Recovery (SURE) Loan Program from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, with zero interest, payable in three years is made available, as well as the activation of funds under the government’s quick response fund and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.
According to the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center, the rice sector incurred the highest damage at P191.53 million or 2,299 MT in terms of volume, with North Cotabato and Oriental Mindoro being the hardest-hit areas.
De Mesa noted, however, that the reported damage is still far from the 500,000 to 600,000 MT annual projected volume loss in palay production due to natural calamities in the country.
