Rice prices remain stable as harvest season starts

CEBU, Philippines - As the peak harvest season for rice is now taking place, the Department of Agriculture is expecting that rice prices in the market remain stable throughout the holiday season.

Based on its latest monitoring, the agency recorded that prices of well-milled rice is maintained between P49 to P51 per kilo while costs of regular rice is between P52 to P54 a kilo.

Gerry Avila of DA Central Visayas noted ordinary rice is now sold at P44 to P45 per kilo from the previous P46.

"We hope prices to be stable during the harvest time and as we approach the holiday season," said Avila, Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance chief. However, he said he could not yet predict as to really how much costs of rice products could go down.

Meanwhile, Lucy Rosales of the National Food Authority region 7 said the expected arrival of the 500 metric tons of rice imports from Thailand and Vietnam has impacted the decrease in commercial rice prices. The rice imported is expected to arrive in the Philippines between this month and December.

"Actually na-stabilize na ang prices especially that people know that it's the onset of the harvest season na," she said in an interview.

She added the distribution of NFA rice supplies, through the accredited NFA retailers, has also helped eased market prices.

Region 7 has currently 1,069 active NFA rice retailers; Cebu, in particular, has around 580 sellers. (FREEMAN)