MANILA, Philippines — The farmgate price of palay went down by P3 per kilo a day after President Marcos issued Executive Order 39 imposing a price ceiling of P41 and P45 per kilo of rice for regular and well-milled rice, according to Federation of Free Farmers national manager Raul Montemayor.
In a text message yesterday to The STAR, Montemayor said the buying price of dry palay reached P20 per kilo from the previous P23 per kilo and P16 to P17 per kilo for wet palay.
“The next day, a day after the executive order was announced and has yet to take effect, the farmgate price of palay already went down by P3 per kilo. We expect this to go down further as the harvest in October to November peaks,” Montemayor said.
“This is a desperate solution,” he said, adding that farmers would suffer the brunt of the decision to impose a price cap on the grain.
Based on monitoring of the Department of Agriculture in Metro Manila markets, the retail price of local regular milled rice is as high as P55 per kilo; local well-milled rice, P56 per kilo; local premium rice, P60 per kilo and local special rice, P65 per kilo.
The P41 and P45 per kilo price cap on rice will take effect today.
Final guidelines
In Bocaue, Bulacan, rice traders are waiting for the final guidelines on the implementation of EO 39.
Rice wholesaler Tony Santos told The STAR that most, if not all, of their buyers who are rice retailers are waiting if the government would provide them with incentives or subsidies, especially those who procured rice at more than P50 per kilo before the executive order was announced.
A certain Diday, a rice retailer, wonders what will she do with the rice that she bought at a wholesale price of P50 per kilo, citing that it is illogical for the rice to be sold at P41 or at P45 per kilo.
“I will lose big,” she lamented.
A wholesale rice trader identified only as Angie confided that she talked to her regular buyers and offered them a self-subsidized rice costing P45 per kilo, but most if not all declined because the retailers would not profit due to the rice price cap.
As of yesterday, the retailers said they have been receiving reports that “it should be seen that they are selling rice at P41 and P45 per kilo.”
Angie told rice retailers that they still have options of selling premium, special and glutinous rice not covered by the price cap, but that they would think about it first.
Hoarders, cartels
To fully address the rising cost of rice in the country, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday sought the arrest of hoarders and those behind the rice cartel.
“The first order of battle is to immediately go after these smugglers, cartels and hoarders who have been ‘gaming’ the agricultural market and torturing our local farmers for all these years,” TUCP vice president Luis Corral said in a statement.
“The key is to address fully and comprehensively the root causes of skyrocketing prices and farmers’ continuing poverty while the layers of middlemen get fatter along with the hoarders and cartels, and they get richer from the miseries of our farmers,” Corral added.
Corral said a “band-aid solution” to the current rice predicament would never fully stabilize prices and supply because the crisis is deep-rooted.
Thus, he said, all concerned agencies should prioritize stabilizing prices and ensuring food security rather than profiting from misery.
TUCP also called for a moratorium on agricultural land conversion and extensive support for farmers, as it urged government to pursue an all-out anti-smuggling campaign for agricultural products, especially rice. – Mayen Jaymalin