The Philippine government is exploring options to protect consumers from rising rice prices, including the reduction of import tariffs and the lifting of the price cap on the staple.

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan yesterday said the government still needs to discuss the proposal to cut rice import tariffs with the President and other officials.

However, he said the government is meeting soon to present options for addressing the issue to ensure that the country remains rice-secure even as world prices are rising.

"Of course, when the world prices are not rising, we don't want to reduce the tariff. But when world prices are rising sharply, and you don't want that to come down to the level of our markets like, for example, the retail or the wholesale or even at the farm gate, of course, you have to find other options to protect our people," he said.

"And reducing the tariff temporarily would be such an option, but in doing so, the exercise that we will do is to ensure that farmers are protected, that they are not going to be worse off. That is the objective," he said.

The government, he said, is closely monitoring the global rice market, including the volume of trade by major rice exporting countries.

He noted that exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam also want to protect their local populations from the external pressures on rising domestic rice prices.

He added that El Niño would continue to intensify until the first quarter of next year.