The Philippines has set a price cap on rice as the country struggles with some of the highest inflation rates in the area, Malacañang said on Friday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed an executive order regulating prices given the "considerable economic strain on Filipinos, particularly the underprivileged and marginalized."

Executive Order No. 39, which Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed on 31 August, sets a mandatory price ceiling of P41.00 per kilogram for regularly milled rice and P45.00 per kilogram for well-milled rice.

"The mandated price ceilings shall remain in full force and effect unless lifted by the President upon the recommendation of the Price Coordinating Council or the (Department of Agriculture) and the (Department of Trade and Industry)," the executive order, which will take effect immediately upon publication in the Official Gazette, or in a newspaper of general circulation, stated.

Based on the projection, EO 39 stated the DA and the DTI "have reported that the country's rice supplies have reached a stable level and are sufficient owing to the arrival of rice imports and expected surplus on local production."

The EO, however, noted that "despite steady supply of rice, the DA and DTI have also reported widespread practice of alleged illegal price manipulation, such as hoarding by opportunistic traders and collusion among industry cartels in light of the lean season, as well as global events taking place beyond the Philippines' control, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India's ban on rice exportation, and the unpredictability of oil prices in the world market, among other factors, have caused an alarming increase in the retail prices of this basic commodity."

Marcos, who is also the Agriculture Secretary, also instructed the Bureau of Customs officials to strengthen inspections of rice warehouses. He also urged the state-run competition watchdog, the Philippine Competition Commission, to take action against cartels and merchants abusing their dominating market position.

According to the National Economic and Development Authority, the price of rice in the Philippines increased from 1 percent in January 2022 to 4.2 percent in July 2023.

DA also said during one of the sectoral meetings last month that it projected the supply of rice for the second semester to be 10.15 million metric tons (MMT), of which 2.53 MMT is ending stock from the first semester, 7.20 MMT is the expected output from domestic production, and only 0.41 MMT is imported rice.

The overall supply would produce an ending stock of 2.39 MM that would last up to 64 days and be more than enough to meet the present demand of 7.76 MMT.