Rice prices fall on adequate supply

Prices of milled rice declined by two percent in the first half largely due to adequate supply despite the negative effects of El Niño, according to the National Food Authority.

NFA administrator Tomas Escarez said the ample supply during the six months through June was “attributed to the output from the summer travel harvest from February to April, and the timely arrival of rice imports before the lean months of July to September.”

Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Agency, the national average price for well-milled rice was P41.13/ kilogram in the first quarter as against P42.68 during the same period in 2015.

For the second quarter, prices of the nation’s major staple amounted to P41.3/kg versus P41.81/kg last year.

The NFA placed the current national rice inventory at 3.08 million metric tons, sufficient for 96 days. Of this volume, 913,500 MT belong to NFA, good to last for 28 days, while 994,700 MT are commercial stocks, and 1.168 million MT are household stocks.

Escarez said the decline in rice prices “highlights the significance of prudent buffer stocking, market positioning and monitoring by the agency so that availability, accessibility and affordability of the staple food are continuously safeguarded and maintained across the country.”

“Being the basic food of Filipinos, rice traditionally comprises about 30 percent of every Filipino family’s food basket, thus a stable price and supply, more so a decrease in prices, always redound to the greater benefit of majority of our populace, especially the poor,” Escarez said.