January 9, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The maximum suggested retail price for imported rice may still go down to P47 per kilo, Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said yesterday, after farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said the plan of the DA to impose a maximum SRP on imported grains not exceeding P60 per kilo is still high.
“The initial estimate of P60 (per kilo) for five percent broken may still go down once the cost in the international market further goes down. For 25 percent broken, our initial estimate is the retail price should not exceed P50 per kilo,” De Mesa said.
“Considering the current exchange rate and tariff of 15 percent and $30 shipping cost, plus P8 added cost of the retailers, it is very clear that based on our calculation, it should be P50 or lower. The estimate of SINAG of P45 to P47, that’s a possibility,” he said.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA will implement a maximum SRP on imported rice, saying the retail price remains high at P64 per kilo despite the implementation of Executive Order 62, which lowered the tariff on imported grains to 15 percent from the previous 35 percent.
Tiu Laurel maintained that if the retail price of imported rice reaches P60 per kilo, it is already considered profiteering.
He added the DA is considering declaring a national food security emergency to allow him to release rice stocks held in reserve by the National Food Authority to bring down retail prices.
All-time high rice imports
The country’s rice imports in 2024 hit an “all-time high” of 4.684 million metric tons (MMT), De Mesa said on Wednesday.
At a press briefing, De Mesa attributed the record-high rice importation last year to the drop in local palay production after it went down to 19.3 MMT compared to 20.06 MMT in 2023.
“That’s the highest (since we started importing). Our consumption is high at 114 kilos per capita per year,” de Mesa said.
In 2023, the total rice imports totaled 3.6 MMT; 2022, 3.8 MMT; 2021, 2.77 MMT; 2022, 2.1 MMT; and 2019, 1.857 MMT.
“We can see that despite the increase in the importation in 2024, there was a huge drop in the local production. From 20.06 MMT (palay production) in 2023, it decreased to 19.3 MMT (last year). The reduction was very significant and the import compensated our losses because of El Niño, La Niña during the last quarter of the year,” de Mesa added.
He said based on official data from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), as of Dec. 31, 2024, rice imports almost reached the earlier projection of the DA of 4.7 MMT
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