Rice prices up by P1 per kilo

Prices of some commercial rice in the market have increased by P1 per kilo due to the high demand owing to the holiday season.

National Food Authority (NFA)-7 Information Officer Olma Bayno said that this is based on their market monitoring for the past weeks.

She, however, assured that NFA rice remained at P27 a kilo.

Bayno said that despite the increase in the price of some commercial rice, it does not mean that we have a rice crisis.

"We have no problem sa atong rice supply, taas lang gyud ang atong demand kay padung na Christmas," said Bayno.

She also said that they also resorted to a reduction in allocation to their NFA Accredited Retailers in the region due to the limited rice they have received as rice importation was limited by the NFA council.

Bayno said of the 500,000 bags of NFA rice sent to Central Visayas, only 300,000 of these are for CV while the 100,000 bags of rice will be shipped to Region 6 and another 100,000 bags will be for Region 8.

She added that in January to August this year, Region-7 has an NFA rice allocation of 150,000 bags per month but this has reduced to 60,000 bags every month starting last month until the end of the year.

"Mao na nga gistretched ra gyud na namo nga mapaigo sa atong mga rice retailers," said Bayno.

Aside from the NFA rice, rice retailers also get supplies for their commercial and local rice.