By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/ PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office here has assured sufficient supply of rice sold at the Dalipe Tradetown here despite the dry spell due to the El Niño phenomenon.
Glen Fernando, Trade and Industry Development Specialist of the DTI Antique, said that in their latest monitoring last February 27, they found that enough supply resulted in the stable price of rice in the market.
Local regular milled rice is still being sold at PHP39 per kilogram, which is the same as that of last month.
“We have included the monitoring of the price of rice in our regular monthly price monitoring as assistance to the Department of Agriculture,” Fernando said in an interview Monday.
The local well-milled rice is also available in the market at PHP44 per kilogram and the special rice varieties such as Sinandomeng, Angelika, and Denorado at PHP45 to PHP55 per kilogram.
He said accredited rice retailers are being allowed to acquire 50 sacks of National Food Authority (NFA) rice weekly from the NFA Antique provincial office, which they sell at PHP27 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, Fernando also asked lumber and hardware store owners to refrain from selling the 16-mm deformed steel bars by Wan Chiong Steel Corporation upon the order of the DTI.
“We are disseminating the information to our local store owners as part of ensuring the safety of the consumers,” he said.
