DA mulls SRP on rice

To prevent profiteering and other illegal trade practices, the Department of Agriculture, or DA, said it plans to include rice among the food products under a suggested retail price schedule.

A key DA official said the agency still needs to consult with stakeholders before embarking on the SRP plan for the staple grain.

"You cannot just issue an SRP without consulting all the stakeholders, from the consumer and producer groups to the traders and millers. All of them should be consulted when setting a suggested retail price," DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said.

SRPs, which manufacturers provide, allow consumers and the government to determine the correct price level of a commodity, although the scheme is different from the outright price control or ceiling that retailers are required to follow.

In a radio interview, De Mesa said the imposition of SRPs, not price ceilings, will be taken up in the consultations.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order 39 in September last year, imposing a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular-milled rice and P45 for well-milled rice. The cap was lifted a month after when grain prices stabilized.

The Philippine Statistics Authority, however, reported high rice inflation last December, which prompted the DA to call for a meeting with industry participants.

Republic Act 7581, or the Price Act, mandates consumer protection by stabilizing basic commodities' prices against undue increases, De Mesa said.

He noted that the DA needed to assess the producers' and traders' industrial processes and expenditures and the retailers' expenses to fix the SRP on rice.

"We have to look at the composition, how the producers' group produced the palay until it became rice. Then, on the traders' side, what were their expenses for warehousing, milling, and drying? For the retailers, what were their expenses? When we compare all these factors, we can see the price range," De Mesa said.

Grain costs peak anew

On Friday, the PSA said the rate of increase in rice prices last December was the highest in 14 years.

According to PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa, rice inflation accelerated to 19.6 percent in December from 15.8 percent in November 2023, making it the fastest rice inflation since March 2009, recorded at 22.9 percent.

The average price of regular milled rice in December was P48.50 per kilo, up from P46.73 in November 2023. In December 2022, it was P39.63 per kilo.

According to De Mesa, the prevailing price as of today for both regular and well-milled rice is P52 per kilo.

"Regular and well-milled are almost the same because, at this time, there is almost no regular-milled rice, and most of the well-milled rice is bought in the market," he said.