The Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Philippines has announced a strategic initiative to lower rice prices back to the levels seen in July 2023, as part of a food security emergency declaration. This move comes in response to a prolonged period of rice inflation that started in July 2023 and continued through November 2024, surpassing the government’s target inflation rate of 4 percent for rice. DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa highlighted that the goal is to revert prices to PHP41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and PHP45 per kilogram for well-milled rice, as they were in July 2023.
Under this emergency measure, the DA plans to sell rice stocks from the National Food Authority (NFA) to local government units, other government agencies, and government-owned corporations at PHP33 per kilogram, making it available to consumers at PHP35 per kilogram. This strategy not only aims to reduce prices but also to clear NFA warehouses for the upcoming procurement of palay from local farmers.
The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) has noted the extraordinary price increases in rice, despite declining global prices and reduced tariffs on imported rice. De Mesa pointed out that rice inflation had spiked to as high as 8 percent in August 2023, 17 percent in September 2023, and over 20 percent in several months of 2024. A significant relief came in December 2024, when inflation dropped to 0.8 percent from 5.1 percent the previous month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Current prices in Metro Manila for imported rice range from PHP38 to PHP52 per kilogram, while local rice prices are between PHP37 and PHP55 per kilogram, as reported by the DA-Bantay Presyo. De Mesa emphasized that the emergency declaration will be periodically reviewed to assess its effectiveness and necessity, with the possibility of lifting it once the objectives are met. The NPCC has committed to reviewing the situation every four months.