1 month ago
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The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the decline in the inflation rate of rice in January is attributed to government interventions to stabilize prices, particularly the tariff cut on the staple food last year.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), rice posted a year-on-year deflation of -2.3% last month, a prominent decrease from 0.8 percent in December 2024.
The PSA reported that this is the lowest inflation rate for rice since June 2020, which posted a -2.3 percent.
Current price trends suggest that the deflation in rice prices will continue through July 2025.
DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa told reporters on Wednesday, Feb. 15, that the “main contributor” to the downtrend is the lowering of the tariff on imported rice from an initial 35 percent to 15 percent.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. issued this order in June of last year, under Executive Order (EO) No. 62.
De Mesa noted that once the tariff cut was in effect, it resulted in the continued decline in rice inflation.
He cited that starting July 2024, rice inflation significantly declined from that month’s 20.9 to December’s 0.8.
“So you can see, from this trend, ‘yung epekto ng tariff reductions beginning July, it caused dahan-dahan na pagbaba (the effect of the tariff reductions beginning in July caused a gradual decline),” said De Mesa.
However, the official noted that this downfall was not as quick compared to that when it was on the upward trend.
This, he said, is the reason why the DA’s declaration of a food security emergency on rice will continue to be in effect.
The declaration, which took place on Monday, authorized the National Food Authority (NFA) to release its rice buffer stocks to help stabilize prices.
De Mesa said on Tuesday that the emergency measure will cease once price levels return “close” to that of pre-July 2023 levels.
During that time, well-milled rice is priced at P45, while regular-milled is P41.
Effective Wednesday, the DA reduced the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of imported rice from ₱58 to ₱55.
This is part of the DA’s ongoing efforts to stabilize rice prices and alleviate inflationary pressures on basic commodities.
Among the agency’s efforts is the availability of Rice for All (RFA) options, as well as the ₱29 rice for vulnerable sectors.
