“Reduction is included, but not P20.”For her part, Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla cited various factors “beyond [their] control” as the reason behind rising rice prices. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that as of May, the farm-gate price of palay reached P19.06 a kilogram, an increase of 10.4 percent from P17.24 per kilogram a year ago. In the country, the commercial price of rice is traditionally double that of the farm-gate price. Based on the DA’s price monitoring per kilogram of rice as of Tuesday, local regular milled rice was being sold from P41 to P55 in Metro Manila compared to P38 a year ago. As for local well-milled rice, the prices ranged from P46 to P57 as against last year’s P40 while for local premium rice, the prices were between P47 and P60 compared to P45 in 2022.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 23, 2023 09:16 UTC