Both the farmgate and retail prices of the country’s main staple food palay and corn are on a downtrend, which is bad news for farmers but good news for consumers.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that farmgate price of palay fell further during the first week of September.

The average farmgate price of palay fell further by 2.2 percent during the period to P17.64 per kilogram (/kg) from its level of P18.04/kg in the previous week.

The average farmgate price of yellow corn grain also went down to P12.32/kg or by 4.6 percent during the first week of this month, from its level of P12.91/kg in the previous week. It also dropped further at an annual of rate of 5.5 percent relative to its average price of P13.04/kg in the same period of the previous year.

Similarly, the average farmgate price of white corngrain decreased to P13.52/kg or by 5.1 percent during the week, from its previous week’s level of P14.24/kg. On an annual basis, it also dipped at a rate of 6.0 percent relative to its average price of P14.38/kg during the same period of the previous year.

A few weeks ago, Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (Philmaize) and the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) already sounded the alarm over falling domestic corn prices, prompting the Department of Agriculture (DA) to hold a consultation meeting with stakeholders.

During the meeting, the Philippine Association of Feed Millers Inc. (PAFMI), the largest group of feed millers in the Philippines, pledged to buy more local corn from farmers.

As for rice, Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured that the government will intensify its palay-buying activities.

For the remainder of the year, the National Food Authority (NFA) still has more than P10 billion budget to buy as much as 10 million bags of locally produced unhusked rice. NFA buys palay at P19/kg.

Fortunately for consumers, there were also downward movements in the retail prices of well milled rice during the first week of this month, the same PSA data showed.

The average wholesale price of well milled rice particularly dropped further to P38.57/kg or by 0.6 percent during the week, compared with its previous week’s level of P38.80/kg.

Likewise, the average retail price of well milled rice shrank to P42.23/kg or by 0.3 percent this week, relative to its level of P42.35/kg in the previous week.

For regular milled rice, both wholesale and retail prices also continue to decline. From its level of P35.22/kg in the previous week, the average wholesale price of regular milled rice dipped to P34.99/kg

or by 0.7 percent during the week.

The same trend was seen in the average retail price of regular milled rice, which fell to P37.91/kg or by 0.5 percent this week, from its previous week’s level of P38.08/kg.

Meanwhile, the average wholesale price of yellow corn grain also decreased to P20.85/kg or by 2.4 percent during the week, from its previous week’s level of P21.36/kg, while the average retail price went down to P24.85/kg or by 0.1 percent this week, relative to its previous week’s level of P24.88/kg.

This, while both wholesale and retail prices of white corn grain likewise dropped. The average wholesale price of white corn grain plunged to P15.88/kg or by 7.9 percent this week, relative to its previous week’s level of P17.25/kg, while the average retail price of white corn grain declined to P27.80/kg or by 0.4 percent this week, compared with its previous week’s level of P27.90/kg.