The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects retail prices of rice and pork to stabilize soon.
The DA said peak of harvest season of palay nears while vaccines against African swine fever (ASF) are expected to arrive soon. This is seen encouraging local hog raisers to increase production.
Arnel de Mesa, DA spokesperson, said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday, the prevailing price of regular milled and well-milled rice last January stood at P52 per kg and went down to around P49 per kg in February.
“We expect rice prices to further go down. Local harvest of rice has started this March and will peak until April. We expect the farm gate price of palay to go down and eventually, retail price too,” de Mesa added.
The DA said the effect of the prevailing El Niño to local crops, particularly rice, is still minimal.
De Mesa said based on latest data, 6,000 to 7,000 hectares or about 0.5 percent of the total area planted to rice has been affected by El Niño which is “very small in terms of total rice area.”
“In terms of production, that is only about 0.11 percent. The effect is not that much since we are already harvesting. The… worst effects did not occur during the productive stage of palay,” de Mesa said.
The DA is hopeful ASF vaccine from the United States and Vietnam will pass the standards of the Food and Drug Administration within the year until early 2025 to allow its widespread use in the country.
“Still, it is expected that price of pork will stabilize. Based on data from the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority,) local production of pork is good as more raisers have already recovered from their losses even with the continued spread of ASF in the country,” de Mesa said.
“ASF is still present and movement protocols are becoming an issue, especially in the Visayas and in Mindanao. However, this was already discussed in a previous meeting with stakeholders to resolve movement protocols,” de Mesa added.
Based on DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, the price as of yesterday of local well-milled rice is between P45 and P58 per kg and regular milled, P50 per kg.
The price of imported well milled rice is at P50 to P55 per kg, while the price range of imported regular milled rice is at P50 to P51 per kg.
Imported rice ranges from P57 to P65 for the special variety and P50 to P65 for premium.
For local rice, the special variety costs P56 to P65 per kg and premium, P50 to P61 per kg.
Price ranges of pork kasım and pork liempo are at P290 to P370 per kg and P340 to P420 per kg, respectively.