The price of palay or unhusked rice per kilo in the final three months of 2023 averaged P21.81, a 6.4 percent increase from third-quarter prices and 25 percent more than the year-earlier period.
Philippines Statistics Authority data show palay farm gate price was highest in the Ilocos Region at P24.97 a kilo during the period, or a 31 percent year-on-year increase. The lowest price was reported at only P19.71 a kilo but this was still 24 percent more than in the same period in 2022.
For the entire year, the average price per kilo of palay stood at P19.88 or 14 percent more than average price of only P17.44 a kilo in 2022.
Among farmers, two kilos of palay are required to produce a kilo of rice.
The farm gate price of a kilo of palay averaged P21.95 in November and P22.89 in December. The increase in palay prices in November and December helps explain why rice prices have risen at the moment despite bountiful harvests.
