Removing rice labels not seen lowering prices

The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) plan to remove the brands and labels from rice sacks and packages is aimed at addressing the price issue in the markets, but stakeholders doubt this would significantly reduce retail prices.

In an interview on Monday, Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines (Grecon) spokesperson Orly Manuntag said the key issue affecting the price of rice lay in the supply chain rather than the brands.

He urged the authorities to examine how much retailers purchased their rice for and investigate the pricing structure at every stage.

“If the problem is price, let’s look at the retailers. How much did they buy from the wholesalers? Is this a wholesaler? Where did they buy from? At how much did they buy from their importers? So that we can know who is profiteering,” he said.

Manuntag stressed the need for greater accountability across the supply chain, beginning with the Bureau of Customs. These include identifying importers, tracing the distribution, assessing the prices wholesalers charge retailers and determining for how much retailers sell to consumers.

He explained that rice brands usually fell under categories such as well-milled, premium and special rice varieties.

While he agreed with the DA’s move to remove brand labels from retail tags, he recommended keeping other details such as the origin of the rice and the quality of the grain to prevent misinterpretation.

He also called for closer coordination between the DA and the Department of Trade and Industry to enforce pricing regulations that would favor consumers and sellers.

The plan to remove rice brands and labels was finalized during a meeting on 3 January led by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.

The initiative followed Tiu Laurel’s market inspections in Metro Manila, where he observed that some retailers and traders were putting “premium” labels on imported rice to justify the higher prices.