MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. set price ceilings for rice, his office said on Friday, to keep the cost of the nation’s staple food under control and deal with an “alarming rise” in retail prices.
The price ceiling for regular milled rice was set at 41 Philippine pesos ($0.72) per kilogram, while the price for well-milled rice was set at 45 pesos ($0.79) per kg, with the imposed ceilings remaining in effect until further orders from the president, Arab News reported.
Local and imported well-milled rice currently sells for 47 to 56 pesos in the Capital Region, while local and imported regular milled rice sells for 42 to 55 pesos as of Aug. 30, the Agriculture Department said.
Despite steady supplies of rice, authorities reported “a widespread practice of alleged illegal price manipulation, such as hoarding by opportunistic traders and collusion between industrial cartels in light of the lean season,” the presidency said in a statement.
Price pressures in Philippines
The Southeast Asian country is also feeling price pressures from global events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India’s ban on rice exports and the unpredictability of oil prices, he added.
Marcos, who is also agriculture minister, earlier this week ordered authorities to redouble efforts to hunt down rice hoarders and take steps to curb rice inflation, which hit 4.2 per cent in July, the highest since 2019.
The Philippines is one of the world’s biggest grain importers and its retail rice prices rose further last month, with some varieties rising by as much as 25 per cent in some markets.
Rice stocks in the Philippines for the second half of the year will reach 10.15 million metric tons, of which 7.2 tons is expected to come from local production. Together with imports and existing stocks, this will allow the country to end the year with stocks good for 64 days of domestic demand.
