There are several phrasal verbs on the continuing soaring prices of rice, now jabbing Filipino consumers whose hopes are high they would stabilize with the forthcoming harvest season.
No less than Malacanang had said, and we are not taking any grain of salt, the prices of rice and palay would stabilize before long, with a lawmaker suggesting the high prices could in fact be artificial.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, citing projections gathered by the Philippine Rice Information System as of mid-August, has said palay yields could reach up to 2 million metric tons by end of this month.
In the House of Representatives, Ways and Means committee chairman Joey Salceda himself said the high prices could be “driven by market speculation and rice traders driven by greed.”
In a statement, Salceda said “now, we have to manage our rice inventory better to avoid fuelling the speculation here and in the global rice market,” stressing India’s export ban and the fear of El Nino contributed to the high cost of the grain.
If it is any comforting move, the Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines, Inc. said local farmers and millers have started to deliver locally produced rice to the market, although it noted the peak season will be between end September and October.
We do not know how the National Food Authority will respond to the suggestion of Nueva Ecija Rep. Rosanna Vergara that it should maintain rice stocks it can use to stabilize prices if there are signs of price manipulation.
There have also been suggestions, and we add our voice, that the NFA should be given back the mandate to buy rice from farmers and sell subsidized NFA rice to make rice more accessible.
Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Sebastian himself said they expect to produce around “more than 11 million metric tons” of palay until December.
Sans typhoons, which may lash the country before and up the Christmas season, officials expect to hit the 20 million metric tons level for 2023 national output.
We also note the government is positioning high-yielding seeds to clustered rice farmers, as well as fertilizers, biofertilizers, soil ameliorants, farm machinery, financial, and marketing support to prepare for the dry season and the upcoming El Niño.
We also have not closed our minds to criticisms from stakeholders, groups and some lawmakers about the President’s executive order which caps regular milled rice at P41 per kilogram and well-milled rice at P45 a kilogram.
We note this was an unwelcome development to small-scale retailers, which prompted the government to provide subsidies of up to P15,000 to those affected.
We join the rest of the nation in hoping for the best.