Price down 24% in late Oct

THE average farmgate price of (unmilled rice) reached P15.43 per kilo in the fourth week of October, down 24.2 percent from last year’s P20.36 per kilo, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Relative to its previous week level of P15.49 per kilo, the latest quotation was likewise lower by 0.4 percent.

“This should not have happened

addressing what we observed as

- ations,” National Economic and

Development Authority (NEDA) Assistant Secretary Mercedita Sombilla said in a speech at the recent 11th World Rice Conference in Makati City.

In light of the continued drop in palay prices, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has implemented mitigating measures to assist affected farmers, including the P3 billion worth of cash assistance to rice planters, at a rate of P5,000 each farmer, which was targeted to be distributed before the year ends.

The agency has also allotted P2.5-billion funding for the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program (SURE Aid), a one- time loan assistance of P15,000 to small rice farmers at 0-percent interest rate payable for eight years.

Furthermore, the DA has engaged local government units to buy rice from local farmers.

The steep drop in farmgate prices of palay was blamed on the implementation of the governwhich allowed the unlimited entry of cheap imported rice.

Farmers in Nueva Ecjia have earlier reported that the buying price of their produce had reached as low as P12-P13 per kilo, but these very low prices of palay were not

local markets.

The rule of thumb in setting the retail price of rice is double the buying price of palay. This means that the P13 per kilo palay buying price should translate to at least P26 per kilo price of rice in the market.

Data from the PSA showed that while rice prices at the wholesale and retail trades posted significant decreases in the third week of October as against their levels a week and a year ago, the latest quotations remained higher and do not follow the rule of thumb in setting rice prices.

The average price of well-milled rice at the wholesale trade went down to P37.60 per kilo, 14.7 percent lower from last year’s P44.06 per kilo. Week-on-week, it fell by 0.4 percent from P37.76 per kilo.

At retail trade, the price likewise declined by 12.8 percent to P41.75 per kilo year-on-year. On a weekly basis, it decreased by 0.3 percent from P41.87 per kilo.

On the other hand, the average wholesale price of regular milled rice moved down to P33.69 per kilo, 18.1 percent from its level of P41.14 per kilo in October 2018. Similarly, it fell by 0.03 percent week-on-week.

Its equivalent price at the retail trade was noted at P37.02 per kilo, an 16.9- percent decrease from P44.53 per kilo a year ago. It also slightly moved down from its previous week’s level of P37.11 per kilo.

Republic Act 11203 or the “Rice

lower retail prices of rice by up to

by 0.5 to 0.7 percentage points this year, and improve farmers’ incomes, productivity and competitiveness.