E. Visayas rice price increases said temporary

The National Food Authority (NFA) has assured that the increase in rice prices is temporary and that these will likely stabilize later this month. Mary Agnes R. Militante, NFA regional information officer, said that price increases are expected during these lean months, when commercial warehouses have less inventory.

“Stocks of rice in NFA warehouses are substantial, but our sales are still calibrated since the price of regular milled rice is still below P40 per kilogram,” Ms. Militante said. As of Aug. 31, the price of well-milled rice went up to P40.33 per kilogram, about 13% more than the P35.60/kg rate in June.

Regular milled rice was cheaper at P36.83/kg, but this was also 14% more than the P32.33/kg recorded in June. As for stocks, as of end-August, there were 390,962 bags of NFA rice in Eastern Visayas. These will last 68 days, based on the 5,721-bag average daily sales. NFA sells rice at P27/kg. Antonio G. Gerundio, Department of Agriculture regional executive director, said that the price of rice is expected to decline later this month when the harvest season starts.

“This is quite expected because we are at the peak of lean months. This is just temporary, and we expect more harvest from traditional planting area and third cropping,” Mr. Gerundio said.

For 2013, the DA regional office aims to produce 1.15 million metric tons (MT), 15% more than the 2012 harvest. Target production for the July-December period is 520,780 MT from 136,249 hectares of rice fields. The DA expects an additional 85,647 MT from 28,757 hectares of new planting areas.