THE AVERAGE farmgate price of palay, or unmilled rice, fell 1.4% in the third week of September to P15.96 per kilogram (kg), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The PSA said in its weekly price update that the average wholesale price of well-milled rice declined 0.6% week-on-week to P38.21 per kg. At retail, it fell 0.3% to P42.11.
The wholesale price of regular-milled rice fell 0.6% to P34.09 week-on-week. The retail price fell 0.3% to P37.66.
The palay price has been declining in the past few months due to larger volumes of imported rice following the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law.
The Department of Agriculture said it is looking into the possible imposition of safeguard measures to address the matter. A decision is due to be announced today, Friday, going by the 30-day period set under the Safeguards Measures Act. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
