Daily Tribune
Workers load and unload sacks of rice along Dagupan Street in Divisoria, Manila, on Wednesday, 18 December 2024. The Department of Agriculture (DA) revealed Tuesday that rice imports may hit a record high of 4.7 million metric tons by year-end to address the impact of natural disasters on local palay production.
John Carlo Magallon
The Department of Agriculture (DA) announced that the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice will be lowered to P49 per kilo starting Saturday, 1 March.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. clarified that the MSRP will be enforced selectively.
“In many provincial areas, we’ve seen prices of imported rice already lower than the MSRP. So we will apply it more selectively,” he explained, adding that the program will be implemented in Metro Manila and other urban centers.
The DA first introduced the MSRP on 20 January, setting an initial price of P58 per kilo. This marks the first time the MSRP will dip below P50 since its introduction.
Before the MSRP, imported rice with 5 percent broken grains was sold between P62 and P64 per kilo.
The DA described the move as a “non-coercive measure” to align retail prices with the steady decline in world market prices and the reduction of rice tariffs from 35 percent to 15 percent in July last year.
“We will review the numbers in the coming days to determine if there’s room to lower the MSRP further. As of now, there could be scope for additional reductions, but we’ll have to see,” Laurel said.
