STABLE RICE PRICES. Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa says no price surges in rice are expected soon considering the good productivity level in the country, in an interview at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Friday (April 5, 2024). He said the prevailing retail price of rice pegged at PHP49 per kilogram to PHP50/kg is expected to remain. (Screengrab)
MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Friday no further surges in rice retail prices are expected despite its inflation uptick, hitting 24.4 percent last March.
This is higher than February's 23.7 percent rice inflation and is considered the highest in 15 years since 2009, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the DA is monitoring stable market prices, with the lowest set at PHP47 per kilogram amid the peak harvest season.
"Iyong tinitingnan natin iyong stability ng price niya, hindi masyadong mataas iyong prevailing natin PHP49 to PHP50 sa ngayon ay nananatili naman (What we are looking at is the stability of prices, it's not that high. The current prevailing price, pegged at PHP49/kg to PHP50/kg, remains) and we are not expecting a surge or surges ng presyo ng bigas (in rice prices) anytime soon," he said.
Moreover, de Mesa attributed the quicker inflation to the low base effect for the same period last year.
"Noong nakaraang taon, talagang simula July/August tumaas bigla iyong presyo ng bigas kaya ini-expect talaga natin iyong inflation because of rice ay mararamdaman natin hanggang July (Last year, since July/August, the prices of rice went up, that's why we're expecting this rice inflation until July)," de Mesa said.
He, however, said there is a good productivity level despite the effects of El Niño, unlike the worst effect of the same phenomenon from 1997 to 1998 which affected around 370,000 hectares of rice farmland.
"Nasa 10,000 to 30,000 hectares lang talaga iyong naapektuhan (ngayon). So makikita natin iyong paghahanda ng kagawaran, kasama ang NIA (National Irrigation Administration), kasama ang ating irrigators association, ay nakatulong para hindi masyadong malala iyong epekto ng El Niño sa ating bansa (Only 10,000 to 30,000 hectares of rice land is affected now. So we can see that the preparation of the department, along with the NIA and irrigators association, really helped to cushion the impact of El Niño in our country)," he added.
On Thursday, the DA projected a 1.1 percent increase in its production for the first quarter of the year, or equivalent to 4.78 million metric tons for the dry season harvest.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier said the Philippines may not need to import 4.1 million metric tons of rice, contrary to the earlier projection of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
De Mesa said that the country has so far imported 900,000 metric tons of rice.
In 2023, the country imported around 3.6 million metric tons of rice and produced 20.06 million metric tons of palay.
Besides rice, de Mesa said the meat inflation monitored in March was due to the low base effect last year.
However, he assured stable meat supply despite the effects of African swine fever (ASF) and avian influenza virus.
"Hindi ganun kalaki iyong nagiging epekto at maganda pa rin iyong lebel ng produksyon natin sa mga karne (There's no significant effect and the level of meat production remains good)," he added.
To date, pork kasim ranges from PHP320/kg to PHP330/kg, while dressed chicken price ranges from PHP170 to PHP200. (PNA)
