India’s decision in October to ban export of non-basmati rice and prospects of reduced harvest due to an expected prolonged dry spell due to El Nino sent prices of the grain to record high last year, with Filipino consumers enduring soaring prices of the national staple despite record grain output.
And prices are likely to stay elevated through the first half of this year in spite of importation and impending rice harvest, according to economic planning and agriculture officials.
Last week, the top exporter of India’s 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted at a record USD542 to USD550 a metric ton due to limited supply. At last week’s peso-dollar exchange rate of P55.911, the price roughly translates to P30,303 to P30,751 a ton—around P30.30 to P30.75 a kilo.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released Monday showed that the price of well-milled rice, which consumers prefer, ended December at P49.11 per kilo, a 28 percent jump from the P39.19 per kilo price at the end of 2022. On average, well-milled rice sold at P42.72 a kilo last year, 11 percent higher compared with the average price in 2022 of P38.36 a kilo.
The higher price of rice came in the wake of a record harvest of 20.06 million metric tons of palay, which translates to 13.04 million tons of rice at an average recovery rate of 65 percent. This means, you will need 1.5 kilos of palay to produce 1 kilo of rice. The Philippines consumes around 37,000 metric tons of rice daily plus 10 percent more to cover wastage and a one-month buffer for ensure supply stability.
The price of well-milled rice at the end of 2018 stood at P41.45 a kilo, up from P39.25 a kilo in December 2017, due to expected El Nino in 2019. After the El Nino episode in the first half of 2019, the price of well-milled rice eased to P36.59 in at end-2019 before rising to the end-2020 level of P37.17 per kilo during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rice prices have yet to decline since. 08:05 PM
