DA: P20/kilo rice remains a government aspiration

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos’ election campaign pitch of P20 per kilo of rice remains an aspiration of the government, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official said.

“The P20 per kilo of rice is still the aspiration and goal of the department (even if) at present it is difficult to achieve,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa said over the weekend.

Marcos campaigned partly on a platform of cutting rice prices to P20 a kilo during the 2022 presidential race. He later clarified that it was merely an “aspiration.”

“Our plans and activities are geared toward reducing the cost to produce and for us to be competitive in the future. If our neighboring countries can bring down the cost of production, we will also do it,” De Mesa added.

Based on Philippine Statistics Authority data, he said the spike in the retail price of rice has contributed largely to the increase in inflation.

“When I examined the data of the PSA, the retail price of rice, especially for regular and well-milled from January to June, July last year ranged between P39 and P40 per kilo only. It started to increase in July, August when it reached P43 (per kilo) and P49 in September,” De Mesa noted.

This contributed to a 23 percent increase in the retail price of the staple or P10 per kilo, he said.

“Imagine from P39 (per kilo) of March last year, it is now P49.50 (per kilo) or P10 increase,” he added.

Based on the DA’s monitoring of Metro Manila markets, the retail price of local regular milled rice ranged between P46 and P53 per kilo; local well-milled rice, around P48 per kilo; local premium rice, between P52 and P60 per kilo; and local special rice, between P54 and P68 per kilo.

Imported regular rice ranged between P49 and P51 per kilo; imported well-milled rice, P50 and P55 per kilo; imported premium rice, between P54 and P63 per kilo; and imported special rice, between P56 and P65 per kilo.

The DA has no plan to impose a suggested retail price or price cap on the grains despite the increase in costs, De Mesa said.

“We have no plan to have a price cap or SRP amid its impact in the long run. The retail price of rice (already) went down from P52 (per kilo) last month