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ABS 2025
Bulacan traders to sell rice at P35/kilo
By J.Lo
“We do not want to repeat situation where prices of rice had very high increase without proper explanation,” House committee on agriculture and food chairman Rep. Mark Enverga said in statement rice millers in Bulacan have agreed to offer rice at P35 per kilo after meeting with National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago.
Agreement was reached during meeting between Santiago and representatives of the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement (PRISM) of Bocaue, Bulacan on Feb. 27 at NBI headquarters in Pasay.
Orly Manuntag, PRISM co-founder, said recent operations against rice hoarders and agricultural smugglers raised concerns among legitimate rice millers and importers in Bulacan, prompting them to seek NBI’s guidance.
Santiago assured PRISM that NBI adheres to due process and will not exert undue pressure or harassment on legitimate businesses.
He also ordered no operations related to rice or agricultural smuggling should proceed without review and approval from NBI top officials.
Following discussion on pricing, Bulacan rice millers agreed to sell rice at P35 per kilo in support of government’s campaign for rice stability and affordability.
At Santiago’s request, PRISM members also committed to reporting any instances of rice smuggling or illegal activities in their area to NBI.
Philippines reference price for imported rice has been stable in the past two weeks with quotations from key Asian suppliers remaining below $400 per metric ton (MT), according to data from Bureau of Customs (BOC).
BOC’s latest memorandum showed its reference value for imported five percent broken Vietnam rice has remained at $385 per MT for the week of Feb. 26 to March 2.
Current reference value for imported Vietnam rice is third lower than $579 per MT recorded in the same period of last year.
BOC bases its reference prices for imported rice on weekly reports provided by Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
S&P Global report earlier pointed out price of five percent broken Vietnam rice in mid-February has fallen to its lowest level in at least 29 months since India, world’s biggest rice exporter, resumed exporting late last year.
Report attributed softening of Vietnam rice prices to tepid demand from its major buyers including Philippines.
Vietnam supplies at least 75 percent of Philippines imported rice.
United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) pointed out that Philippines
implementation of maximum suggested retail price and declaration of food security emergency impacted Vietnam rice prices to fall.
Some local importers and traders have also canceled their contracts with Vietnamese exporters to take advantage of more affordable prices.
BOC memorandum also showed reference price for imported five percent broken rice from other Asian sources has remained below $400 per MT: Myanmar ($384), India ($391) and Pakistan ($384).
Reference price for five percent broken rice from Thailand was pegged at $409 per MT, based on BOC document.
Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier announced maximum suggested retail price on imported five percent broken rice, considered premium grade, would be lowered to P49 per kilo beginning March 1 from its current level of P52 per kilo, reflecting easing in global rice prices.
National Food Authority Administrator Larry Lacson appealed to local government units (LGUs) to expedite pullout of NFA rice stocks to free up storage space amid complaints from farmers of agency’s failure to procure palay from them.
Lacson said sale of NFA rice stocks will enable NFA to procure more palay from local farmers.
Food security emergency declared by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. allows NFA to sell its rice stocks to LGUs. LGUs can resell them at P35 per kilo.
Lacson noted San Juan City has already started pulling out NFA rice stocks, with Navotas, Cotabato and Camarines Sur expected to follow suit. Food Terminal Inc. reports three LGUs have pending orders for over 120,000 sacks of rice.
According to Lacson, clearing out existing rice stocks is crucial to meeting country’s new buffer stock levels, as mandated by Rice Tariffication Law.
This year, NFA needs to procure 545,000 MT of palay to maintain nine-day buffer supply, with total of 880,000 MT needed to meet 15-day target.
Meanwhile Enverga lauded government’s decision to sell NFA rice at P35 per kilo, noting that it marked major step in stabilizing food prices.
On the other hand, Speaker Martin Romualdez
urged candidates in midterm elections to prioritize rice affordability, stressing that while recent government measures have yielded positive results, sustained efforts are necessary to achieve long-term solutions.
“Numbers and reports are not enough… we need to go down to our districts, talk to farmers, vendors and consumers…we need to ask them if there are rice available for cooking for each Filipino family…how can we decrease prices of rice without our farmers losing money,” Romualdez said.
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