The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) is considering extending the nationwide price ceiling of P50 per kilogram for 5 percent broken imported rice.

“The Department of Agriculture said the NPCC already recommended the extension of the price cap. However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is still studying whether it will be extended or not,” said Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro in a Palace briefing on Wednesday.

 “The President also considers that the harvesting season of rice will take place in September,” she added.

Apart from this, Castro said the President has already ordered DA Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel Jr. to see to it that supplies of fertilizers used by rice farmers are intact.

To date, local average price of fertilizer is pegged at P2,600 per 50 kg. bag, slightly lower than P2,900 per 50 kg. bag during the peak price elevation due to the Middle East tensions.

Secretary Tiu Laurel Jr., also on Wednesday, said they have already recommended to the NPCC a 60-day extension of the P50 per kg. price cap for 5 percent broken imported rice.

“Why do we need two more months? Because there’s no harvest now,” Tiu Laurel said, citing the need to sustain rice price stability in retail markets.

Once approved by Marcos, the price cap will be extended to 60 days, following its expiration on 13 June. (RAFFY AYENG)