RICE retailers in Metro Manila have agreed to sell rice at lower prices of around P42 per kilo by next week, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.
The commitment was said to have been made following a consultative meeting where persistent high rice prices were discussed.
“They have agreed to sell well-milled rice for around P42 per kilo after we appealed to their sense of patriotism,” Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro said.
“We asked them to help ease the burden on the poor by providing more affordable rice.”
Representatives of rice retailers from major markets in Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan City, Pasig City, Las Piñas City, Taguig City and Pasay City told DA officials that a price markup of between P3 and P5 per kilo would provide them with sufficient margins.
Price monitoring by the DA showed that imported well-milled rice was being sold for up to P52 per kilo while regular milled rice was at 48 per kilo. Local rice prices ranged from P44 to P58 per kilo.
Rice prices were supposed to have gone down substantially after the government slashed import tariffs in July. Retailer markups have been blamed.
The DA had warned that it could recommend the imposition of rice price caps if market prices remained high.
Under Executive Order 62 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., duties on imported rice were slashed to 15 percent from 35 percent effective July 8.
Since then, nearly 1.7 million metric tons of imported rice have arrived in the country through the first week of November, data from the Bureau of Customs showed.
The DA has said that high rice prices are pressuring inflation and that around P9 of every P100 spent by the average Filipino consumer is used to buy rice — an amount that doubles to P18 for the poor.
prices next week – DA
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