Retail price of rice fell to 3-year low in December

THE average retail price of rice in the first week of December fell to a three-year low of P36.56 per kilogram, according to a report published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its weekly price monitoring report, the PSA said the average retail price of regular milled rice (RMR) as of the first week of December declined slightly to P36.56 per kg, from the previous week’s P36.66 per kg.

“On an annual basis, it also went down at a rate of 12.7 percent from its level of P41.88 per kg in the same week of the previous year,” the PSA said.

Historical PSA data showed that the figure is the lowest average retail price of the staple in more than three years, or since the P36.56 per kg recorded in the third week of March 2016.

In the same report, the PSA disclosed that the average wholesale price of RMR dipped to P33.09 per kg, from last week’s P33.17 per kg.

“Similarly, it plunged at an annual rate of 15.1 percent from is level of P38.99 per kg in the same week of the previous year,” it added.

The PSA said the average retail price of well-milled rice (WMR) declined to a new three-year low of P41.44 per kg, from last week’s P41.58 per kg. “Annually it also shrank at a rate of 9.2 percent from the same period of previous year’s level of P45.65 per kg.”

The average wholesale price of WMR, according to PSA, rose slightly to P37.23 per kg from last week’s P37.20 per kg. However, it fell by 11.7 percent from last year’s P42.17 per kg, the PSA said.

Government officials and experts have attributed the plunge in retail price of the staple to higher imports entering the country after it opened up its domestic market following the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the rice trade liberalization law.

RA 11203 converted the quantitative restriction on rice into tariffs and limited government’s intervention in the domestic market by stripping the National Food Authority (NFA) of its powers to import rice and sell it to consumers at a low price.

The law, which took effect in March 2019, also mandated the establishment of a P10-billion fund which will bankroll interventions to boost the competitiveness of local planters.