Palay prices pick up in most areas
Palay prices slightly picked up during the first week of November compared to previous weeks, a data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
However, in some areas, prices still fell to as low as P10.71 per kilogram (/kg).
During the first week of November, the average farmgate price of palay increased to P15.41/kg or by 0.4 percent during the period, from its level of P15.35/kg in the previous week.
Meanwhile, it declined at an annual rate of 1.3 percent, from its average price of P15.61/kg in the same week of the previous year.
PSA's weekly farmgate prices of palay report showed that some areas enjoyed prices as high as P20/kg, while the average price settled at P15.41/kg.
Provinces that were able to sell their palay at high prices include Apayao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Cagayan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, among others.
On the other hand, those that saw low prices – from P10.71/kg to P12.50/kg – Bulacan, Cavite, Quezon Province, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, North Cotabato, Agusan Del Sur, among others.
Some of these provinces, Quezon Province in particular, were badly hit by the recent typhoons last month, destroying most of their rice yield.
For the yield that were saved, farmers can only sell them for low prices because they don’t have the drying facilities to improve the quality of their harvest.
“Those that we wouldn't be able to sell, we will just eat it," Rene Cerilla, policy leader of Pambansang Kilusan ng Samahan ng mga Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) and a farmer-leader from Lopez, Quezon, said earlier.
"Those we will sell, we can only sell it for a very low price, which means we won’t make any money at all,” he added.
Just more than a week ago, the DA already officially dropped its target palay production for the year, admitting that the country’s annual output for unhusked rice will no longer reach 20 million metric tons (MT).
For the last quarter of 2020, rice production is expected to reach 7.42 million MT, bringing this year’s total palay output to only 19.32 million MT, according to DA National Rice Program (NRP) Lead Assistant Secretary Andrew Villacorta.
While this is 2.7 percent more than the total harvest of 18.8 million MT in 2019, this will be lower than the 20.34 million MT of play the DA was expecting the country will produce for this year.
Rice farmers across the country are now pleading for the government's help.