Palay farmgate price hits P31 per kilo

MANILA, Philippines — The farmgate price of palay reached P31 per kilo as cost of well-milled rice reached P54 per kilo, according to farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).

In an interview yesterday with The STAR, SINAG chairman Rosendo So said that a 50-kilo sack of rice delivered to Metro Manila now ranges between P2,400 and P2,500.

He added that the retail price of well-milled rice ranged from P54 to P55 per kilo.

“We don’t know what the cost of rice is in December but it is possible it could reach P60 per kilo,” So added.

He noted that traders buy P31 per kilo of palay in Isabela and Bulacan and P29 to P30 per kilo in Pangasinan.

He added that the imposition of a price ceiling is no longer possible as the stocks are in the hands of traders. So had earlier proposed the reimposition of the price ceiling amid the expected increase in the retail price of the grains.

“Traders are still competing with the stocks (of palay) as the harvest is 70 percent complete. The high farmgate price is expected to persist,” he added.

President Marcos lifted Executive Order 39 on the imposition of a price ceiling of P41 and P45 per kilo for regular and well-milled rice on Oct. 4, almost a month after it was implemented on Sept. 5.

Based on the monitoring of the Department of Agriculture, the retail price of local regular milled rice ranged between P33 and P50 per kilo; local well-milled rice, between P45 and P54 per kilo; local premium rice, between P50 and P62 per kilo and local special rice, between P50 and P65 per kilo.

Imported well-milled rice ranged between P45 and P80 per kilo; imported premium rice, between P50 and P60 per kilo and imported special rice, between P55 and P63 per kilo.