NEWLY-appointed Agriculture Secretary Francisco Laurel Jr. yesterday said that President Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo is “not possible” yet due to spikes in global market pricing.
But Laurel was quick to add that the government’s thrust to modernize the country’s agricultural sector will help in making the price of rice more affordable in the country.
“Today, it is not possible, but with the directive of the President to modernize, irrigate and use right seeds, mechanize… We are getting ready to do our best to try and make rice affordable,” Laurel said in his first press conference as secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Laurel’s appointment was announced last Friday by Marcos, who concurrently acted as DA secretary while he picked the department’s chief. He used to own food conglomerate Frabelle Corp. and was also one of the top donors to Marcos’ presidential campaign.
Laurel said: “The P20 per kilo was an aspiration. The problem now, we are now in a 15-year high in the world market. The previous $230 per ton from Vietnam is at $700 per ton today.”
He likewise conceded that it is “hard to say” whether the P20 per kilo price of rice will be achieved within the Marcos administration, stressing that its movement is dictated by global events.
“It’s hard to say. The problem now of the world is it’s so complicated. There’s climate change, El Niño is now here, and it will continue until the middle of next year. Anything can happen. We also don’t know if a war will break out in another part of the world. We don’t know if another ship will block the Suez Canal. It is possible to lower the price, but we need to have our silos, we have to have buffer stock and we have to change some laws, I believe,” he said.
Laurel said the President’s marching order to him was to increase production across all agriculture sectors, particularly on rice.
“Basically, ang directive ni President Marcos is to increase production in almost all sectors ng agrikultura, all commodities. But of course, may special emphasis sa bigas – modernize, irrigate, fertilize, and use the right type of seeds as soon as possible (Basically, the directive of President Marcos is to increase production in almost all sectors of agriculture, all commodities. But of course, there’s special emphasis on rice),” he said.
Based on DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, the price as of last Friday of local well-milled rice is between P45 to P53 per kilo while regular milled rice is at P41 to P45 per kilo.
The price of imported well milled rice is at P45 to P48 per kilo, while the price of imported regular milled rice is not available.
Imported rice ranges from P55 to P60 for the special variety and P47 to P58 for premium.
For local rice, the special variety costs P50 to P65 per kilo and premium, P50 to P60 per kilo.
According to data from the Bureau of Plant Industry’s National Plant Quarantine Services Division, as much as 2.79 million metric tons (MT) of imported rice have arrived in the country as of October 26.
The bulk, or 2.5 million MT that is equivalent to 89.6 percent of the total shipments, was from Vietnam.
In September this year, Marcos said he remains optimistic that the P20 per kilo price of rice which he promised during his 2022 campaign for the presidency still has a “chance” of becoming a reality once the agriculture sector, particularly the cost of rice production in the country, becomes stable.
“May chance lagi iyan (It always has a chance),” the President said then, adding: “Kung maayos natin ang production natin, hindi na tayo masyadong babagyuhin at ‘yung mga tulong na ibinibigay natin sa mga farmers ay magamit na nila (If we can fix the production [of rice] and it becomes stable, and we will not be hit by too many typhoons, and the farmers start using the aid that we have given them [then the P20 per kilo of rice is possible]).”
The President has repeatedly said that the government is exhausting all measures to ensure that prices of staple food in the market remain affordable, especially for poor households.
He also said the government is working on raising the rice buffer stock amid the high demand for rice among Asian countries, which have increased their purchases or imports, in anticipation of the El Niño phenomenon.