Rice price cap may only last a month, says DTI

The price ceiling on rice may only be implemented for a few weeks as supply of the food staple is seen to stabilize soon, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Wednesday.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, DTI Assistant Secretary Agaton Teodoro Uvero pointed out that the rice price cap, which took effect on Tuesday, September 5, is only a “temporary measure.”

“Nakikita natin na ‘pag dumating na ang anihan, in few weeks time magsisimula na ang anihan…Marami nang suplay na lokal, bababa na ang presyo ng bigas,” he said.

(In a few weeks time, the harvest season will begin. We expect that when the harvest comes, there will already be a lot of local supply. The price of rice will then decrease.)

Uvero said that authorities anticipate that the supply of rice will stabilize in three weeks.

“‘Yun talaga ang usapan, hindi talaga tatagal ‘to… Si DTI, NEDA, at iba ‘yun talaga ang consensus, hindi talaga dapat tumagal ‘to… Ang tingin nga nila kung puwede, huwag lalampas ng isang buwan, pero depende po 'yan sa magiging resulta ng merkado,” he added.

(The discussion was that the implementation won't really take long. DTI, NEDA, and others had a consensus that it should not last for long. They think that it shouldn't take more than a month, but that depends on the outcome in the market.)

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier approved the joint recommendation of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and DTI to set price ceilings on rice in the country amid the surge in retail prices of rice in local markets.

This set the mandated price ceiling for regular milled rice at P41 per kilo, and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice, based on Executive Order No. 39, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. —KG, GMA Integrated News