Price council urges DA: Declare rice food security emergency 

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Local prices high despite easing global trend   

The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) has approved a resolution urging the Department of Agriculture (DA) to declare a food security emergency for rice as prices remain high despite declining costs in global markets and lower tariffs. 

The council is an inter-agency body responsible for stabilizing prices of basic commodities and prime necessities. It convenes regularly to address price increases especially in times of emergencies or calamities.

The declaration would allow the National Food Authority (NFA) to release rice buffer stocks to stabilize domestic prices, Trade and Industry Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque, who also chairs the Council, said in a statement yesterday. 

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Under the Rice Tariffication Law, NFA’s role is limited to buying palay from local farmers and holding buffer stocks. It cannot regulate rice trading or directly sell rice to the public but declaring a food security emergency would temporarily expand its capabilities.

DA said the NFA currently holds 300,000 metric tons of rice in buffer stocks and releasing these reserves would help decongest warehouses in preparation for the upcoming February harvest.

“If NFA’s stocks are released, this will be shared with or sold to local government units (LGUs), Kadiwa, to the AFP (Armed Forces of The Philippines), PNP (Philippine National Police), and other government agencies for distribution.

“NFA’s problem now is warehouses are full and the harvest season is coming,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told reporters during a market inspection yesterday in Pasig City.

“So, if warehouses are full, we cannot buy palay from farmers at a good price. So, we need to sell that immediately,” Tiu Laurel added.

For now a possible scenario is that the NFA will sell its rice stocks to LGUs and other government agencies at P36 per kg so that the latter can sell to the public at P38 per kg for January and February, the Agriculture chief said.

However, by March, the department said NFA’s stocks will be given to LGUs and other government agencies at P33 per kg to be sold to consumers at P35 per kg.

In a separate statement, Tiu Laurel  said the price of the 25 percent broken rice variety sold under the DA’s Rice-for-All program will be lowered to P38 per kg from P40.

“This price reduction will take effect on Friday (today), just ahead of the implementation of the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of P58 per kilo for 5 percent broken imported rice,” Tiu Laurel said.

The MSRP for imported rice will be enforced beginning January 20, initially targeting Metro Manila markets.

The measure will be reviewed monthly to reflect fluctuations in global market prices and tariff rates, with plans to extend the program to other key cities nationwide.

Should imported rice prices breach the MSRP, DA intends to implement a stricter Suggested Retail Price (SRP) framework accompanied by stiff fines and penalties against violations.

At present, Tiu Laurel said the MSRP framework includes a nominal profit margin of around P10 per kg over the landed cost of imported rice, excluding special rice varieties such as malagkit, Japanese and black rice.

“If world rice prices remain stable, we anticipate a reduction in the MSRP after the February review,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said a state of food security emergency is an “admission” of the failure of Executive Order (EO) No. 62 enacted in July 2024 lowering import tariffs to 15 percent from 35 percent. 

“We urge the NPCC to recommend to NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) the repeal of EO 62 and revert rice and pork tariffs to 35 percent. As the interagency body tasked to monitor and stabilize food prices, it is very clear to NPCC that EO 62 was a failure,” said Jayson Cainglet, SINAG executive director, in a separate statement.

Repealing EO62 will provide additional revenues for the government to support local rice farmers.

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“We support all efforts in reducing rice prices, including a declaration of food security emergency, if needed. The problem is rice supply is not the problem but the high prices of rice,” Cainglet said.

The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), meanwhile, said the government must focus on running after “profiteering importers, wholesalers and retailers,” said its national manager Raul Montemayor. 

If the NFA buys palay stocks at P25 per kg on average, a kilogram of the commodity with the cost of transport, storage and other expenses factored in rice will cost at least P42 per kg even before it reaches the consumer, he said.

As a result the NFA will incur huge losses. “If NFA sells the rice at P36 per kg to LGUs, it will lose P150 million. At P32 per kg, the loss will be P250 million,” Montemayor said. 

Such a development will not have a positive impact on the market, the FFF manager said. 

There is also the risk that unscrupulous traders will corner “very cheap rice” or it “might be used by local politicians for politicking and vote buying,” he said. 

Montemayor said it would be better if the NFA would auction the rice and “even make some money.”

Based on DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, local well-milled rice was selling between P40 and P53 per kg last Wednesday, while regular milled rice went for P37 to P50 per kg.

The price of imported well milled rice is at P44 to P52 per kg, while the price of imported regular milled rice ranges from P40 to P48 per kg.

Special variety imported rice sells for P53 to P65, and premium rice for P52 to P60.

Special variety local rice was selling for P55 to P63 per kg while premium rice went for P48 to P58 per kg.

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