DA plans to lower imported rice MSRP to P45 by March
Filipino consumers may soon be able to buy cheaper rice as the Department of Agriculture (DA) has hinted at lowering the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice.
In an interview on Monday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the agency will most likely reduce the MSRP for imported rice to P45 per kilo by March 31.
“Looking at the current trend of prices, of the exchange rate, of [rice] prices in the international market, most likely the P45 MSRP for imported premium rice will most likely continue towards the end of the month,” said de Mesa, the DA’s spokesperson.
Over the weekend, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA might further reduce the MSRP for imported rice depending on prevailing global rice prices and the exchange rate between the local currency and the US dollar.
“If the current trend in world rice prices persists and the peso remains strong, we might lower the MSRP for imported rice to around P45 per kilo by March 31,” Tiu Laurel said in a statement over the weekend.
The agriculture chief noted that the landed cost of good-quality rice variety from Vietnam—those with 5 percent broken grains—has declined to about $490 per metric ton, $200 lower than prices recorded last November and $80 lower than prices in early January.
Citing data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the DA said the Philippine peso strengthened to P57.225 per US dollar as of March 11, as opposed to around the P58-P59 range in November last year.
According to the agency, setting the MSRP for imported rice “has resulted in a sharp reduction in prices without significantly disrupting the rice industry.”
The DA introduced the measure on January 20 this year to lower retail prices, initially setting the MSRP at P58 per kilogram. It covered public markets within Metro Manila.
The MSRP was subsequently lowered to P49 per kg later this month.
“Before the DA introduced the MSRP in early February, imported rice with 5 percent broken grains was being retailed at around P64 per kilo, despite softer global prices, tariff reductions, and a stronger peso,” it added.
As of March 15, local regular milled and well-milled rice was priced from P33 to P52 per kg in Metro Manila markets, against P50-P58 per kg on the same day a year ago, according to the DA’s price monitoring.
Imported regular and well-milled rice retailed between P33 and P46 per kg, also lower than P48-P55 per kg.
Pork MSRP
Meanwhile, De Mesa said that the DA will look into the low compliance among retailers with the pork MSRP a week after it was set.
The agriculture official said about 20 percent of market vendors have followed the MSRP for pork based on the DA’s monitoring of more than 170 vendors.
On the other hand, a mere 6 to 7 percent of “viajeros,” or traders, have complied with the MSRP for “sabit ulo,” or the price at which traders pass on pork to retailers.
“Right now, we think it’s best to sit down and assess what happened and why some of them have not complied with [the MSRP on] sabit ulo because that’s the most important thing—to ensure compliance [among traders] before enforcing it among the vendors,” he said.
The DA set the pork MSRP effective March 10: P350 per kg for pork shoulder (kasim) and pigue and P380 per kg for pork belly (liempo). It also set an MSRP of P300 per kg for “sabit ulo.”
However, the measure excludes pork sold in “modern markets,” including supermarkets and hypermarkets, given their higher operating costs.
The MSRP will be reviewed after a month to determine whether adjustments must be made.
De Mesa said market interventions considered by the DA include selling locally produced pork through the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), a strategy adopted by the agency for rice.
Another is securing a portion of the meat import quota with reduced tariff rates to address elevated retail prices by selling imported pork to the public.
Tiu Laurel had said the “general direction” for minimum access volume (MAV) quotas this year is 30,000 metric tons (MT) for processors, another 15,000 MT for the DA through FTI and Planters Products Inc. (PPI) and the remaining 10,000 MT to traders.
MAV is a trade mechanism that sets the specific quantity of an agricultural product that can be imported into the Philippines at a lower tariff compared to other origins or countries that do not enjoy such access.
