At A Glance
- Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is expecting the retail prices of rice to significantly go down by October as the reduction on the tariff rate of the staple food takes full effect.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is expecting the retail prices of rice to significantly go down by October as the reduction on the tariff rate of the staple food takes full effect.
Through Executive Order (EO) No. 62, the tariffs on imported rice was lowered from 35 percent to 15 percent.
According to Laurel, it is not feasible for rice prices to immediately undergo reduction as the order only took effect last July 8.
“Sobrang maraming stocks na binili ng (A lot of stocks were bought by) importers from January to June of this year at a very high price of 35 percent. So we can really only expect na bababa ang presyo ng bigas dahil marami pang mahal na bigas na naka-stock (that the price of rice will drop because there is still a lot of costly rice stock), by October,” he said during the budget deliberations on Monday, Aug. 12.
With this in mind, the DA chief said the public should anticipate prices to “average down”.
He noted that the lower prices would only come to fruition once the remaining stock of imported rice——which was bought at a high price——will be finally depleted.
“Doon maramdaman, do’n natin mararamdaman ‘yan (It can be felt there, we will feel it there),” Laurel stressed.
As of Aug. 8, the price of regular milled rice ranges from P46 to P48. Meanwhile, well-milled rice is between P51 to P53.
These prices are a far cry to previous averages, which neared or even passed the P60-mark.
“Bumaba na ho ng kaunti (It went down a little), Mr. Chair,” added Laurel.
Earlier, Malacañang said the prices of rice will drop by P6 to P7 “in the coming months” following the lowered rice tariff.
The Department of Finance (DOF), on the other hand, is forecasting at least a P5 decrease in the average price of the commodity.