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By Ira Karen Apanay, Senior Reporter
EVEN rice exporting countries are affected by
the worldwide rice price crisis as retail prices of the staple in
Vietnam and Thailand went up to P59.01 per kilogram and P45.11 per
kilogram, respectively, the National Food Authority (NFA) said.
NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro said that
a research made on rice prices in Asia showed that in May,
the domestic selling price of rice in Vietnam and Thailand was at
P59.01 per kilogram and P45.11 per kilogram, respectively.
In the Philippines, the average domestic
price of rice was P33.26 per kilogram for the commercial varieties,
for the same month.
Vietnam and Thailand are two of the
Philippine’s major rice suppliers.
Navarro said the government is able to maintain
the domestic price of the commodity at a range even lower than those
of major rice exporting countries.
He explained that the percentage increase in
rice prices was placed at 143.44 percent in Vietnam and 175.4
percent in Thailand. In the Philippines, the increase was only
28.91 percent.
In January, the prices recorded were P24.24 per
kilogram in Vietnam, P16.38 per kilogram in Thailand and P25.80
per kilogram in the Philippines.
The Business Development and Promotions
Department of the food agency based their study from the data of
Yahoo financial news, Consumers International Malaysia and other
international media organizations.
The research highlighted the fact that while
both Vietnam and Thailand are producing rice in larger quantities
and exporting to other countries, the worldwide price hikes in food
commodities also affect them.
The government, through the food agency,
continues to sell rice at P18.25 per kilogram for
identified depressed areas and P25 per kilogram in accredited
outlets.
”Keeping the price of rice within
the reach of ordinary consumers reflects the government’s
effective use of logistics and timely market infusion of the
commodity which are part of the food security mandate of NFA,”
Navarro said.
As of the end of May, NFA’s daily
rice distribution was placed at 93,873 bags.
Total rice distribution since January has
already reached 9.9 million bags, or 86 percent of the agency’s
11-million bag target.
Navarro added that the food agency’s
capability to infuse rice in the market anytime and anywhere,
when there is an abnormal increase in the price of the
staple worldwide is an effective deterrent against domestic price
spirals.
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