Despite price caps, rice inflation fastest in 14 years

MANILA, Philippines — Inflation for rice posted its fastest increase in 14 years, even as the government imposed caps on regular milled and well-milled rice last month, according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a press conference yesterday that rice registered a double-digit inflation rate of 17.9 percent in September, from only 8.7 percent in August.

“This is the highest since March 2009 when our rice inflation reached 22.9 percent,” Mapa said.

Rice was cited as the main driver for the higher food inflation rate of 10 percent in September from the previous month’s 8.2 percent. Mapa noted that rice has an 8.87-percent weight in the headline or overall inflation rate.

The higher inflation rate was noted in September, despite a price ceiling of P41 per kilo for regular milled rice and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice. The price caps, which took effect Sept. 5 and lifted on Oct. 4, were intended to address rising rice prices.

Asked whether the rice price caps were effective in stabilizing prices, Mapa said this would need further study as he noted that the caps had mixed results in terms of compliance.

He pointed out that of the 2,601 regular milled rice varieties monitored by the PSA, only 640 were compliant with the price cap of P41 per kilo. As for well-milled rice, only 687 of 3,498 varieties tracked by the PSA were within the price cap.

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement that the government, through the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook, is proactively monitoring the supply and demand of key commodities in order to provide policy recommendations to the President and Cabinet.

“In line with this, we are closely monitoring both local and global markets in terms of price movement, as they may be affected by the availability of supply or disruptions in the supply chain,” Balisacan said.

The farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) yesterday projected that the country’s palay harvest from September to December 2023 could reach 10.5 million metric tons, which would translate to 6.5 million MT of rice, and that the