MANILA, Philippines — SL Agritech Corp., the largest producer of hybrid rice and seeds in the country, is expected to slash its buying and retail prices as the Philippines slowly enters the open market for rice importation.
While the country is gearing up for the influx of cheap imported rice with the lifting of the quantitative restriction, SL Agritech would have to adjust its prices in the market to be able to compete.
“Maybe it will affect us a little bit. Our cost would probably go down, we would have to reduce our buying price, and of course our retail,” SL Agritech chairman and CEO Henry Lim told reporters.
Currently, SL Agritech buys palay (unhusked rice) up to a high of P30 per kilogram, plus additional premium to farmers who plant the SL variety.
In the retail market, the Doña Maria brand of premium rice in Miponica and Jasponica varieties are being sold at P105 per kilo.
“We have a chance to show superiority even with the entry of more rice. We already have the name and the distinct taste compared with the others. But we have to work harder and promote our rice,” Lim said.
Lim said the lifting of QR would also pave the way for a bigger export market for the company particularly to China.
Majority of SL Agritech’s production or about 95 percent is for local consumption and the remaining five percent for the export market.
With the QR, Lim said export allocation would likely increase to 10 percent of the current production volume.
“If we are importing rice at the $400 per MT level and we could export at more than $600, we should encourage that also and that is what we are doing,” he said.
SL Agritech is one of the largest hybrid rice producers in the country. It produces the Doña Maria brand of premium rice in Miponica and Jasponica varieties.
SL Agritech holds 70 percent of the total market share of hybrid variety in the Philippines.
The company has various partnerships for hybrid rice seed production in Asian nations such as India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia.