Retail rice prices ease 9% in July

MANILA, Philippines - Retail prices of rice last month softened from to last year’s level as the Department of Agriculture has assured stability of supply from both local production and importations.

Based on comparative farm gate, wholesale and retail prices of palay and rice gathered by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) for July this year, retail prices of well-milled rice has dropped year-on-year by 9.25 percent from P37.94 per kilo in July 2008 to P34.43/kg. this year.

The price of regular-milled rice similarly declined, by 9.49 percent from P34.37/kg. July 2008 to P31.11/kg. in July this year.

However, as of Tuesday, Aug. 4, the price of well-milled rice in local markets was monitored by the BAS at a range of P32 to P37.

The price of regular-milled rice likewise moved upward at a range of P27 to P34.

However, premium rice is currently selling between P36/kg. to P43/kg. while fancy rice is even more expensive at a low of P40/kg. to a high of P60/kg.

According to the DA, the country is still on target with its palay (paddy rice) production for the dry season.

For the first half of this year, the DA is targeting palay production to reach 7.3 million metric tons.

Total palay production for the whole of 2009 is 17.2 million metric tons.

However, the DA has also secured almost 1.8 million metric tons of imported rice to assure domestic supply during the traditional lean months of July to September.

For the whole of this year, the DA is targeting total rice importations to reach 2.4 million metric tons.