THE average farmgate price of palay, or unmilled rice, declined 0.3% week-on-week in the third week of October to P15.49 per kilogram (kg), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
According to the PSA’s Updates on Philippine Palay, Rice, and Corn price report, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice fell 0.2% week-on-week to P37.76 per kg. The average retail prices also fell 0.1% to P41.87.
The average wholesale price of regular-milled rice was stable at P33.70 per kg while the average retail prices fell 0.3% to P37.11.
Rice prices have been pressured since the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, which liberalized imports of rice in exchange for the payment of a 35% tariff on Southeast Asian grain.
The farmgate price of yellow corn grain averaged P12.15 per kg, down 0.4% week-on-week. The average wholesale price rose 0.1% to P21.20. The retail price rose 0.3% to P26.04.
The average farmgate price of white corn grain fell 0.6%, week-on-week to P13.39 per kg. The average wholesale price was up 2% at P17.13, while the average retail price rose 0.9% to P26.78. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
