The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the decline in the inflation rate of rice in January is attributed to government interventions to stabilize prices, particularly the tariff cut on the staple food last year.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), rice posted a year-on-year deflation of -2.3% last month, a prominent decrease from 0.8 percent in December 2024.

The PSA reported that this is the lowest inflation rate for rice since June 2020, which posted a -2.3 percent.

Current price trends suggest that the deflation in rice prices will continue through July 2025.

DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa told reporters on Wednesday, Feb. 15, that the “main contributor” to the downtrend is the lowering of the tariff on imported rice from an initial 35 percent to 15 percent.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. issued this order in June of last year, under Executive Order (EO) No. 62.

De Mesa noted that once the tariff cut was in effect, it resulted in the continued decline in rice inflation.

He cited that starting July 2024, rice inflation significantly declined from that month’s 20.9 to December’s 0.8.

“So you can see, from this trend, ‘yung epekto ng tariff reductions beginning July, it caused dahan-dahan na pagbaba (the effect of the tariff reductions beginning in July caused a gradual decline),” said De Mesa.

However, the official noted that this downfall was not as quick compared to that when it was on the upward trend.

This, he said, is the reason why the DA’s declaration of a food security emergency on rice will continue to be in effect.

The declaration, which took place on Monday, authorized the National Food Authority (NFA) to release its rice buffer stocks to help stabilize prices.

De Mesa said on Tuesday that the emergency measure will cease once price levels return “close” to that of pre-July 2023 levels.

During that time, well-milled rice is priced at P45, while regular-milled is P41.

Effective Wednesday, the DA reduced the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of imported rice from ₱58 to ₱55.

This is part of the DA’s ongoing efforts to stabilize rice prices and alleviate inflationary pressures on basic commodities.

Among the agency’s efforts is the availability of Rice for All (RFA) options, as well as the ₱29 rice for vulnerable sectors.

Expensive tomatoes, pork

While rice prices are on the decline, the opposite is happening to commodities such as tomatoes, pork, poultry meat, and fish like galunggong.

The uptick in these food items were referred to by the PSA as the primary contributors to the 2.9 percent inflation rate in January.

De Mesa expressed optimism that prices of these goods will see decreases in the coming months.

For vegetables, such as tomatoes, he noted that retail prices of such will likely dip as soon as agricultural fields recover.

Last year, the sector was heavily devastated by the effects of the El Niño phenomenon during the early part of 2024, followed by successive typhoons that ravaged the country as the year ended.

For fish goods, the reopening of the country’s fishing season is expected to contribute to lower prices.

Meanwhile, for pork, the DA is set to implement a price cap on pork—similar to the MSRP on imported rice—to help stabilize prices.

De Mesa said this is still “under study,” but noted that this will “definitely” happen.

Egg supply

Following Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel’s warning that the country will potential face an egg shortage by April, the DA clarified that this is just a “proactive stance”.

De Mesa explained that the Philippines has an oversupply of eggs.

He said the Secretary was just being cautious after he personally witnessed the scarce supply and high prices of eggs in the United States (US).

The DA Spokesman added that an oversupply in egg would usually mean that the layer industry will do culling to control its supply.

“Ayaw ng Secretary na biglang magkakaroon ng sudden, unnecessary culling at biglang magkakaroon ng pagbaba sa volume ng itlog, it might cause increase sa presyo,” said De Mesa.

(The Secretary does not want a sudden, unnecessary culling, nor an abrupt drop in egg volume, as it might cause a price increase.)

“The reality now is wala namang kakulangan sa itlog, this is just a proactive stance and a message to the layer industry na concerned si Secretary,” he continued.

(The reality now is that there is no shortage of eggs, this is just a proactive stance and a message to the layer industry that the Secretary is concerned.)

The DA earlier announced that is expediting the importation of egg-laying chickens to curb a possible shortage.