Palay farmgate price continues to fall

MANILA, Philippines - Farmgate price of palay (unmilled rice) continued to fall in the second and third week of February, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

From the monitoring period of Feb. 11 to 17, the average farmgate price of palay fell 0.47 percent to P17.87 per kilogram from the previous week. Year-on-year, this was lower by 5.90 percent.

This translated to price reductions in the wholesale and retain prices of well-milled rice.

The average wholesale prices of well-milled rice at P38.90 per kilogram was 0.32 percent below the previous week’s quotation. Year-on-year, this was higher by 3.29 percent.

The average retail price of well-milled rice fell to P41.97 per kilogram week-on-week. Year-on-year, however, this was higher by 4.54 percent.

The average wholesale and retail prices of regular-milled rice also declined.

Wholesale prices of regular milled rice fell 0.21 percent to P35.74 per kilogram on the average from the previous week. From the previous year, however, this was higher by 2.24 percent.

The average retail price of regular milled rice fell 0.24 percent to P38.38 per kilogram. Year-on-year, this was higher by 4.14 percent.

The National Food Authority (NFA) announced early this month that it would intensify palay procurement this year as the farmgate prices of unmilled rice have begun falling to P14 to P16 per kilogram in several areas.

NFA administrator Renan Dalisay said “massive” procurements would be conducted in Iloilo, Palawan, Sultan Kudarat, Antique and Isabela provinces.