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A woman tends to customers buying rice at Central Market in Sta. Cruz, Manila on March 16, 2026.
Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — The government is studying several measures to temper rising rice prices, including increasing state importation to sell cheaper rice and possibly imposing a cap on retail prices.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the Department of Agriculture (DA), through its attached agencies Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) and Planters Products Inc. (PPI), has begun importing rice that is being sold at P45 and P48 per kilo.
The imported stocks are already being sold in some Metro Manila markets and are expected to reach other key cities outside Luzon, according to the DA.
The agriculture chief said the government is prepared to import more rice and flood the market, particularly in major cities like Cebu, where retail prices have surged.
Tiu Laurel noted that rice prices in Cebu have exceeded P60 per kilo.
“If prices in Cebu will remain high, what we will do is we will be the ones to sell rice in Cebu. We will be the ones to import and sell,” Tiu Laurel said.
Tiu Laurel said the DA is ready to implement the same measure in other major cities nationwide if lawmakers and the public allow it.
The rice is being imported by PPI and sold by the DA through FTI at nearly breakeven cost for the government in order to create competition against commercially imported rice stocks in the market, Tiu Laurel explained.
Aside from selling cheaper imported rice, the DA is also studying the possibility of imposing a price cap amid the worsening global oil crisis driven by the escalating war in the Middle East.
At present, Tiu Laurel estimates that the price cap may be set at around P50 per kilo.
“I am having my legal team go through it and consulting other departments on this possible price cap,” he said.
If the price cap pushes through, it will initially be applied to imported rice stocks before locally produced supplies to ensure that prices received by Filipino farmers will not decline.
The price cap may later be imposed on locally produced rice after the dry-season harvest.
Tiu Laurel said the proposed price cap would be part of a package of measures he will recommend to President Marcos to cushion the impact of global oil shocks.
The agriculture chief also warned that selling premium imported rice at P60 per kilo could already be considered “profiteering.”
Meanwhile, the DA is banking on the ongoing dry-season palay harvest to help temper the recent spike in rice prices.
The STAR reported yesterday that rice prices have already increased by as much as P2 per kilo and may continue to rise due to supply disruptions and fuel price surges caused by the Middle East conflict.
Rice industry players have also noted that market speculation by traders and importers has fueled the increase in retail rice prices, especially as transport costs and fertilizer prices are expected to rise.
