Average farmgate palay price further drops to P16.68/kilo

MANILA, Philippines — Farmgate prices of palay (unhusked rice) remain on the downtrend as of the end of August,  according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority(PSA).

In its latest update, the PSA reported that the average price of palay fell 4.4 percent to P16.68 per kilo.

“It also decreased further at an annual rate of 27.4 percent from its level of P22.98 per kilo in the same week of the previous year,” the PSA said.

Farmgate prices of palay have been falling since the Rice Tariffication Law took effect in March.

Under the Rice Tariffication Law, quantitative restrictions on rice importation are lifted and private traders are allowed to import the commodity from countries of their choice.

The law replaced the government’s quantitative restrictions on importation of the staple with a 35 percent tariff.

While local farmers are being hit by lower palay prices, consumers are seeing lower retail and wholesale prices of regular milled rice.

The PSA reported that the average wholesale price of regular milled rice declined further to P34.59 per kilo or 0.9 percent from  P34.89 per kilo last week.

On an annual basis, this marked an 18.9 percent drop from P42.64 per kilo.

Average retail price of regular milled rice decreased 0.5 percent to P37.99 per kilo.

This is a 16.1 percent lower than the P45.30 per kilo in the same period last year.

The PSA reported that the average wholesale price of well milled rice dipped 0.4 percent to P38.77 per kilo.

The average retail price of well milled rice fell 0.2 percent to P42.39 per kilo. 

Year on year,  it plunged 12.5 percent from P48.43 per kilo.

The PSA earlier reported that total rice inventory stood at 2.13 million metric tons (MT) as of the end of August, up 40.3 percent year on year.

This, however, is lower by 19 percent from the previous month’s 2.62 million MT.