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MANILA, Philippines — Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin has called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to defer its plan of setting a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for premium rice varieties, citing the need for the agency to study it further and explain the methodology used.
In an online interview on Thursday, Garin was asked if she plans to ask the DA to halt their MSRP of P58 per kilogram of well-milled grains, which the DA believes would be key to bringing the price of regular-milled rice down.
Article continues after this advertisementDA is set to impose this MSRP on Friday, January 17.
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO Enrile questions INC ‘logic’ vs VP Sara Duterte impeach raps NEWSINFO NLEX warns of heavy traffic on Jan. 18-19 due to PH Arena concert NEWSINFO PNP says mall guard in viral video may lose license“Yes, first of all of course we will listen to their basis because the representative of DA said that they just got the prices from the market. There are varieties sold for P62, P63 [per kilogram] that’s why they decided to lower it a little bit by putting it, by pegging it at P58,” Garin told reporters in Filipino.
“But what we want to hear from [Agriculture] Secretary Laurel, maybe there is a basis or a different explanation for this. That is what we want to hear. Now if it is acceptable, we will accept that,” she added.
Article continues after this advertisementOn Wednesday, at the hearing of the House quinta committee, the DA said they would try to lower prices of regular-milled rice by putting the MSRP on premium grains.
Article continues after this advertisementAgriculture Undersecretary Asis Perez said this after ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro asked him regarding the P58 per kilogram MSRP, with the latter saying that it is not a solution.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to Castro, rice prices have gone down already, with premium varieties sold at around P55 per kilogram, lower than the MSRP.
With the MSRP, Castro claimed that the government is only allowing traders and retailers to sell rice at a higher price, when they would already have a profit at P55 per kilogram.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: DA aims lower rice prices by setting maximum SRP for premium grains
Perez then explained that the idea is if the price difference between premium rice and regular-milled rice is not that big, consumers would pick the better varieties — forcing regular-milled rice traders to lower their prices too.
Garin and other lawmakers criticized the DA for supposedly pulling the P58 per kilogram MSRP out of thin air. Garin also asked DA from what planet it was able to get the figure.
Garin said that no matter what DA does, the issue remains the same: rice grains are being sold at a higher price in Metro Manila, compared to Mindanao.
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“But the one million dollar question, the big question is still there: why are lower prices, including for premium rice, implemented in Mindanao and not here in the NCR and Luzon? When you look at it in terms of economies of scale, NCR and Luzon have a greater market size compared to Mindanao,” she pointed out.
“I think they have to study it. They have to study so that we can look at the basis,” she added.
free slots win real moneyLast January 11, Laurel said the government would impose an MSRP of P58 per kilogram for imported rice. He said the MSRP would start on January 20, with Metro Manila being the pilot area.
Laurel said the decision came after “extensive consultations” with industry players, as the government attempts to tame increasing rice prices, which have not gone down despite tariff cuts and drop in global prices.
The MSRP would then be reviewed monthly to consider factors affecting prices.
READ: DA sets imported rice price cap at P58/kg
During the campaign season for the 2022 national elections, part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s promise was to bring rice prices down to the P20 to P30 per kilogram range.
Despite rice prices skyrocketing in the middle of 2023 — which forced the President to impose a price cap on regular and well-milled rice — administration allies and Marcos himself maintain that attaining this goal is still possible.
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READ: Bongbong Marcos says P20/kilo rice possible: ‘May chance lagi yan’nice88
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