By Stephanie Sevillano | Philippine News Agency
The Department of Agriculture (D.A.) on Tuesday ruled out price spikes on retail rice, given an ample local supply and a temporary import ban which took effect on Sept. 1.
In a phone interview, D.A. Spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the country has a strong rice inventory despite the 60-day rice import halt, which runs until Oct. 30.
Asec. De Mesa told the Philippine News Agency, “We are not expecting sudden spikes na malalaki dahil marami tayong imbentaryo ng bigas.”
As of Aug. 28, the country logged 2.8 million metric tons (MT) of rice import arrivals since January, according to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).
About 264,000 MT of imported rice arrived from 210 sanitary and phyto-sanitary import clearances (SPSIC) issued for 28 days of August alone.
De Mesa said the arrival of the imports last August is still not done, and there are still expected arrivals for November to December.
The local palay (unhusked rice) production, meanwhile, stood at a historic high during the dry harvest season, hitting 9.08 million metric tons during the first half of 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“We are also expecting a good harvest ngayong panahon na ito. We are very okay in terms of these numbers. Kung magkaroon man ng presyo na pagtaas siguro kaunti lang hindi iyong massive price increases,” de Mesa said.
The D.A. earlier projected that the country is likely to gain at least 11 million metric tons of palay output for the wet harvest season, and may even surpass the 11.38 million metric tons for the second semester of the year.
De Mesa, meanwhile, said the prevailing price range of imported rice is still pegged between P42 to P45 per kg. based on their recent market watch, with the maximum suggested retail price for 5% broken imported rice set at P43/kg.
As of Aug. 29, the premium imported rice in Metro Manila ranges from P42/kg to P52/kg, while local premium rice is priced between P42/kg to P60/kg, according to the D.A.’s Bantay Presyo monitor. (PNA)
