Retail price of fish up by P40/kilo

MANILA, Philippines —  The retail price of fish increased by as much as P40 per kilo as a fishers’ group asked the Department of Agriculture to immediately intervene and address the issue.

Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas vice chairman Ronnel Arambulo said that based on their monitoring, the retail price of galunggong or round scad has reached P260 per kilo compared to its previous price of P180 to P220. Tilapia has reached P150 per kilo from its previous price of P100 to P120 and bangus or milkfish, P240 per kilo from its previous P200.

“The spike in the retail price of major fish is unreasonable. The traders and middlemen controlled the pricing from the farmgate to the retail price,” Arambulo said.

He noted that the farmgate price of galunggong in Zambales is only P100 to P120 per kilo or more than 80 percent lower than the retail price of P260 per kilo.

He added that the government should directly buy from fishermen to ensure that the fish will be sold at affordable prices and that the imposition of price control under Republic Act 7581 or Automatic Price Control should be pushed to address manipulation and profiteering.

Rice varieties being mixed

Meanwhile, farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) bewailed the disappearance of regular-milled rice in the markets, saying it is mixed with other varieties for greater profits.

“We visited the markets and even the vendors were surprised when it was claimed that cheaper rice was available. We did not see P45 (per kilo) or P42 (per kilo). The retail price of rice remains high at P52, P55 going to P60,” SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said.

According to him, based on the information the farmers’ group gathered, regular-milled rice is being mixed with well-milled rice for higher profit.

Cainglet said that lower retail price of rice should not be expected as the imported rice from Vietnam even increased by $40 per metric ton as it is now pegged at $620 per metric ton.

“The landed cost of the imported rice is now P48 per kilo,” he noted.

Government officials have said that the retail price of imported rice will go down by as much as P7 per kilo amid the implementation of Executive Order No. 62 on lower tariff on imported rice.

“Everybody wants a lower retail price of rice but the anticipated lower imported rice will not happen,” he said.