MANILA – Agriculture group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Thursday proposed the reimposition of the price cap on rice saying unscrupulous players were creating artificial rice price hikes.

“We would be requesting the President to reimpose the price cap on well-milled rice this November to pre-empt new attempts to artificially increase the retail price of rice,” said Jayson Cainglet, Executive Director of SINAG.

The group said it is wary of a possible repeat of the rice price spikes last August when traders tried to justify the increase in rice prices citing high farmgate costs of palay or unmilled rice.

Cainglet said they have monitored areas in the country where palay is being bought at an unusually high price of P28-30/kilo, which shouldn’t be the case, especially during the harvest season.

“Nakita at napanood na natin ito! They are again wanting to create another artificial rice price crisis. So we are asking again our President to intervene and address this potential problem,” Cainglet said in a statement.

But the Department of Agriculture is not convinced.

“I dont think so, the price cap should really be a short-term one. I don’t think we will resort to that. We will have to study. There are probably other measures that we can already do,” said Agriculture Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. lifted the price cap a month after it was implemented, after seeing favorable conditions like the downward trend of its retail price.

Published Date: October 19, 2023