Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 1) — Filipinos will have to shell out more for rice because of higher production cost, an agriculture official said on Tuesday.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mercy Sombilla said farmgate prices of palay are now at ₱19 to ₱21 per kilogram, and these rise at the retail to input the cost of fuel and fertilizers.
“Nandoon pa rin iyong effect ng ano, ‘no, iyong fertilizer and fuel cost, ‘no, kasi nagfa-fluctuate pa rin ito primarily because of the, siguro, Black Sea Grain Initiative kasi mas maraming fertilizer ang nanggagaling doon. And then, the fuel cost, nakita ninyo naman, bumaba na siya, umakyat na naman,” Sombilla said in a briefing.
[Translation: The effect of fertilizer and fuel costs is there because this is still fluctuating primarily, I think, because of the Black Sea Grain Initiative because a lot of fertilizer is coming from there. And of course fuel prices keep going up and down.]She said, traders are also speculating that rice export prices will go up.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative allows for the safe passage of items such as grain and fertilizer from designated Ukrainian ports to global markets. It was an initiative among Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations in July 2022. Russia has pulled out of the deal, threatening food exports to poor countries.
The DA said rice supply is enough and the coming rice production period will add to the stocks.
“The biggest rice production will still come sometime, kung hindi [if not by the] end of September, sometime in October so we will be beefing up our supply and, of course, the usual na supplies that we will be also getting from imports,” said Sombilla.
The DA is working on importing 1.3 million metric tons of rice, but ot has yet to set a timetable.
