Palay average price down by 0.30% in mid-January

By Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
Reporter
PALAY average farmgate price went down by 0.30% to P19.79 per kilogram in the third week of January from P19.85 per kg in the second week, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Monday.
PSA data showed that average price of wholesale well milled rice remained the same at P41.56 per kg, while average retail price increased by 0.07% to P45.11 per kg from P45.08 per kg the previous week.
Average price of wholesale regular milled rice in the third week meanwhile posted a 0.42% decline to P38.35 per kg from P38.51 per kg in the second week. Average retail price of regular milled rice registered at P41.43 per kg, down by 0.24% from P41.53 per kg a week ago.
The National Food Authority (NFA) also said on Monday that it has already procured 146,319 bags of palay in January from local farmers at a maximum price of P20.70 per kg.
NFA said it has breached its palay procurement target in Mindanao for the month as it was able to buy 98,099 bags of palay in Region XII, way above the targeted 2,000 bags. NFA also bought 2,865 bags in Region X, with its target only 1,000 bags.
“For a long time, especially in 2017 and 2018, we had a hard time meeting our palay procurement targets as private traders offered very high prices reaching as much as P25/kilo in 2018. That’s why we had to rely on rice importation to replenish our buffer stocks. But with the BSI (buffer stocking incentive) launched in October 2018, NFA buying price has been increased from P17/kilo to P20/kilo with the traditional P0.70/kilo for drying, delivery and cooperative development incentives. We are buying more and are more optimistic in meeting our target for the year,” NFA Administrator Tomas R. Escarez said in a statement.
Meanwhile, PSA data showed that average farmgate price of yellow corn grain in the third week was P13.98 per kg, up by 0.36% from the second week’s P13.93 per kg. Average wholesale price was P20.30 per kg, up 0.30% from the previous week’s P20.24 per kg.
Average retail price of yellow corn grain, however, dropped by 2.07% to P25.11 per kg from the second week’s P25.64 per kg.
White corn grain average farmgate price lowered by 0.71% to P13.98 per kg from the previous week’s P14.08 per kg. Its wholesale average price went up by 0.48% to P20.80 per kg from P20.70.
Its average retail price was P28.12 per kg for three consecutive weeks, PSA said.