TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Rice retailers here are adjusting their retail prices to comply with Executive Order 39 of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. setting the price of regular milled rice at P41 per kilogram and well-milled rice at P45/kg.
This was gathered by the composite team from the Department of Trade and Industry, National Food Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Tabuk City government after the round-up of public markets for the rice price cap monitoring.
Maria Cecilia Baral of the DTI provincial office said there were few retailers still selling higher than the price cap due to higher pass-on prices from traders.
But from the series of monitoring, the group noticed remarkable price adjustments from most retailers, Baral noted.
The government recently issued the rice price cap due to the spiraling cost of the staple product reportedly caused by shortage in supply that mostly affected major cities in the country.
The rice price cap does not apply to fancy rice varieties, Baral said.
Tabuk, known as the “rice capital” of the region, is a top-supplier of hybrid rice.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement that the government is considerting importing rice from Argentina.
At present, the Philippines imports its additional rice supply from Thailand and Vietnam. – Larry Lopez
