By Stephanie Sevillano
MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday ruled out price spikes on retail rice, given an ample local supply and a temporary import ban which took effect on Sept. 1.
In a phone interview, DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the country has a strong rice inventory despite the 60-day rice import halt, which runs until Oct. 30.
“We are not expecting sudden spikes na malalaki dahil marami tayong imbentaryo ng bigas (because we have high rice inventory),” he told the Philippine News Agency.
As of Aug. 28, the country logged 2.8 million metric tons (MT) of rice import arrivals since January, according to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).
About 264,000 MT of imported rice arrived from 210 sanitary and phyto-sanitary import clearances (SPSIC) issued for 28 days of August alone.
De Mesa said the arrival of the imports last August is still not done, and there are still expected arrivals for November to December.
The local palay (unhusked rice) production, meanwhile, stood at a historic high during the dry harvest season, hitting 9.08 million MT during the first half of 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“We are expecting also a good harvest ngayong panahon na ito (in this season). We are very okay in terms of these numbers. Kung magkaroon man ng presyo na pagtaas siguro kaunti lang hindi iyong (If ever there will be price increases, it will be minimal, not) massive price increases,” de Mesa said.
The DA earlier projected that the country is likely to gain at least 11 million MT of palay output for the wet harvest season, and may even surpass the 11.38 million MT for the second semester of the year.
De Mesa, meanwhile, said the prevailing price range of imported rice is still pegged between PHP42 to PHP45 per kg. based on their recent market watch, with the maximum suggested retail price for 5 percent broken imported rice set at PHP43 per kg.
As of Aug. 29, the premium imported rice in Metro Manila ranges from PHP42 to PHP52 per kg., while local premium rice is priced between PHP42 to PHP60 per kg., according to the DA’s Bantay Presyo. (PNA)
