Several agricultural products have posted higher prices compared to last year, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Wednesday.

At a news briefing, Lopez noted that while a majority of agricultural commodities posted price augmentations due to supply constraints, “there are some exceptions.”

“What’s important is our next move. We will work on managing and addressing the increases especially in retail,” he said after the meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council. He noted some basic commodities, including fish, some meat products, rice and sugar are experiencing supply shortage thus’ pushing prices up.

The trade chief supports the suggestion to allow the importation of select basic goods to enhance the supply, similar to the directive given by President Rodrigo Duterte to import at least 250,000 metric tons of rice to fill up National Food Authority warehouses.

“In importation, we must ensure that it will go to the retail, either directly to the market or to the user industries,” the trade chief said. “It must not go to a few players. It should be open to all.”

“What we can ensure is that the supply of commodities won’t fall short and we will allow more supplies to come. If we fall short on local production, then we allow importation,” he added.

At the same time, Lopez said world oil prices were the biggest contributor to rising inflation in the country. On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported inflation at a new five-year high of 5.7 percent.

“If you look at the inflation that was reported Tuesday, there are many oil-dependent products that show markups like transport, power and utilities, water, among others. We only can pray that world oil prices will settle down,” he said.

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