Cheap rice ranging from P45 to P42 per kilo would be sold in the markets starting July.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez announced the projected price drop on Monday following a meeting with rice stakeholders, Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement (PRISM) and Grain Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (GRECON).
"We are focusing on this initiative in Congress, and this is not the end yet. The direction is to sell quality rice at affordable prices for everyone," Romualdez told reporters on Monday.
The cost reduction in the staple grain is distant from its initial target of below P30 per kilo. Romualdez, however, assured that the price slash will further reduce in the upcoming months with the help of concern agencies, including the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
“We are anticipating that NIA could bring to the table the P29 by [per kilo] by August. This all within the near term so to speak,” he said.
The House leadership, he added, would also channel budgetary allocations to the NIA, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Public Works and Highways for the additional flood control programs and irrigations as part of the long-term solutions to stabilize rice price.
“We will also create dams to pound water to have excess resource so that the weather is dry we have adequate supply [of rice],” he said. “We are doing all of these to be more efficient and more effective and productive rice mills so that we can actually reach this target.”
A recent Philippine Statistics Authority report showed that special rice was pegged at P64.69 from 1 to 5 June.
PRISM and GRECON forecasted that prices of rice will range from 45 to P46 per kilo for well-milled, while premium rice will range from P47 to P48 per kilo in July and August with the newly issued Executive Order 62, which reduced the tariff cut on rice import from 35 percent to 15 percent.
PRISM founder Rowena Sadicon allayed farmers’ fears that they would not overlook their interests despite the tariff reduction.
"We'd like to assure our farmers and our local producers that we will promote their cluster farming and help them so that our local production will not be neglected," Sadicon said.
PRISM is a group composed of various stakeholders across the rice value chain from seed growers, farmers, millers to traders, importers and retailers.
Rice farmers are poised to lose approximately P43 billion as a result of the EO 62.
Farmers' groups fear that the markets will be flooded with cheaper imported rice, leaving local farmers struggling to compete with foreign suppliers with no option other than to sell their yields at a bargain price.
Former Agriculture secretary, now Federation of Free Farmers chairperson Leonardo Montemayor, previously projected that the cost of rice would remain around P50 pesos per kilo even if the tariff is reduced to 15 percent.
