Commercial rice price hike seen in Quezon City market

The price of commercial rice increased by P5 to P6 in the span of one week at Kamuning Public Market in Quezon City.

According to a "24 Oras Weekend” report by Jamie Santos on Saturday, commercial rice such as jasmine rice now costs P55 per kilo, up P6, while denorado now costs P52 per kilo, up P5.

In other markets, the cheapest local well-milled rice costs P39 per kilo.

Retailers said the changes in pricing were based on how much they paid for the rice from traders.

The sellers warned prices could rise further in the coming weeks.

Last week, the Department of Agriculture said retail prices of rice were expected to rise in the next few weeks due to high palay farmgate prices amid the dry season, higher input costs, and low buffer stock.

With this, some vendors are pushing for the return of the cheaper NFA rice.

For now, NFA rice is being used as a buffer stock in case of calamities.

However, Raul Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said that the NFA rice had been sold at Kadiwa stores.

"Ang problema, mukhang maraming inutos sa NFA (National Food Authority) gawin na hindi naman saklaw ng concept ng buffer stock. Maganda siguro yung intention na yung iba ay ipinaluwal sa Kadiwa pero nakalagay sa batas only during emergencies and calamities," he said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB.

GMA Integrated News is still trying to get a comment from the NFA.

The NFA is planning to import over 330,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to replenish the country’s buffer stock of the staple in anticipation of calamities. —Sherylin Untalan/VBL, GMA Integrated News