The retail prices of rice varieties have been increasing as supply of the staple food kept on dwindling.
So, the government had intervened by issuing Executive Order 39 that imposes a retail price ceiling on rice at P41 per kilo for regular-milled and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice. The EO took effect on Sept. 5.
With these prices, retailers claim they will lose heavily since they bought their rice stocks higher than the price cap.
As a response, the government has offered a subsidy to the retailers, but is this a manageable and sustainable arrangement?
How about reviewing what the National Food and Authority has been doing before to sell quality rice in the retail markets at reasonable prices whenever there is rice crisis?
This move is also a way of stabilizing the retail price of our staple food. — PERCIVAL B. ALIPIT, Baguio City
September 28, 2023