Commercial rice price hike noted in Metro Manila

The price of one sack of commercial rice has increased by P50 due to the lack of NFA rice supply in Metro Manila, Vonne Aquino reported on Unang Balita on Wednesday.

Reporting from Mega Q-Mart, Vonne reported that the price per kilo of commercial rice was higher by one peso up to two pesos.

• Sinandomeng rice costs P41 per kilo from P43 per kilo
• Super Angelica rice costs P41 per kilo from P42 per kilo
• Denorado rice costs P50 per kilo to P52 per kilo
• Ifugao rice costs P47 per kilo from P46 per kilo

The Philippine Confederation of Grains Association and some rice dealers pledged to sell well-milled rice that would cost P39 per kilo to help stabilize market prices while waiting for a fresh supply of imported rice.

A seller told GMA News that the cost of each sack of commercial rice is higher by about P50 and that they can only earn from selling rice if these are sold by the sack.

Meanwhile, the supply of commercial rice in the market that costs P41 per kilo, which is the cheapest rice available, is quickly diminishing.

An owner of a carinderia, meanwhile, said the price hike still has little effect on his income.

However, carinderia owner Ely Boter said if the price of commercial rice per kilo goes up by another two pesos he has to lessen the amount of rice sold per cup.

Some rice sellers said they wanted to hike the price of rice per kilo by up to five pesos, but they refused to do so because they are also considering the budget of their customer. —BAP/KG, GMA News