The Department of Agriculture assured the public that there is no need to worry about crop commodities for there will be a ‘very stable’ supply, especially for rice and corn, pork, and chicken, to meet the local demands.

“Secretary Kiko Laurel just briefed the President that all our crop commodities, especially rice and corn, pork, and chicken, were very stable, and there will be no problem in the coming months. So, we don’t need to worry; just relax, sit back, and watch the show,” said DA Undersecretary Roger Navarro in a press briefing on Tuesday.

According to Navarro, the country needs an importation volume of at least 330,000 metric tons per month, with an average daily consumption of about 37 MT per day.

“We have a production of rice, which is already about 13,000. So, we need a balance of 2.8 or 2.6 million that we need to import from other countries. Normally and traditionally, we import like 3.8 million metric tons from other ASEAN countries.”

He said that the Philippines have so far imported 590,00 MT of rice this year, which he noted as a volume that is greater than what the country needs this February.

“So, with the coming production, come March until April, May and June. So, we will have an ample supply of rice.”

The real challenge

Navarro said that the present challenge is not the price but rather the stabilization of supply.

“Even if we have a small price or a low price, if you do not have a supply, then we will have a problem,” he said.

As an example, he cited that Vietnam, which is among the highest rice exporters worldwide, has its rice priced at around P48, while Thailand is around P52. With these, he said that the current local prices are not far from those of our rice importers.

“In other words, the challenge really is more stabilizing supply than price. It’s better to have rice at P56 than no rice at P42. We also need to rationalize our thinking that we cannot bring down the price because the input price, especially for fertilizers and seeds in the international market, is also going up to the ceiling. Unless we are going to buy P1 per bag of urea, then we can sell P10 per kilo of rice.”

Based on DA’s latest price monitoring, imported special rice is priced at P57 to P65 per kilo, while the premium is between P53 and P62.

Imported well-milled, on the other hand, is valued at P50 to P58, while regular-milled is P50 per kilo.

Meanwhile, local special rice is now at P55 to P66 per kilo, premium is at P50 to P63, well-milled is at P49 to P56, and regular milled is at P50 to P53 per kilo.

White corn is priced between P60 and P180 per kilo, while yellow corn ranges from P50 to P80 per kilo.