By TED CORDERO, GMA Integrated News.

Rice prices in the Philippines continued their downtrend in the first month of 2025, with the inflation rate for the grain staple contracting for the first time in nearly four years, amid a trend of declining global prices and a reduction in rice tariffs mid-last year.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) chief National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa reported that rice posted a year-on-year deflation of -2.3% in January 2025 from 0.8% increase seen in December 2024.

The trend of easing inflation for rice seen since August 2024 was consistent with the PSA’s expectation that it will begin easing towards the second half of 2024 due to base effects, particularly when it began its uptrend in August 2023, as well as the impact of lower rice import tariff which took effect early July.

Executive Order No. 62, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in June 2024, reduced the tariff rate for imported rice to 15% from 35%.

Mapa said the contraction in rice inflation seen in January was the first time since December 2021’s rice deflation of -0.1%.

Last month’s rice deflation of -2.3% was also the lowest for the grain staple since June 2020’s -2.8% print.

To illustrate the contraction in rice inflation seen last month, Mapa bared the month-on-month and year-on-year national average prices of regular, well-milled, and special rice varieties during the period.

In particular, the following are the average prices of rice at the national level in January 2025:

Regular milled – P48.25 per kilo from P48.81 per kilo in December 2024 and P49.65 per kilo in January 2024
Well-milled – P54.14 per kilo from P54.38 per kilo in December 2024 and P54.91 per kilo in January 2-24
Special – P63.13 per kilo from P63.24 per kilo in December 2024 and P63.90 per kilo in January 2024
The PSA chief said regular milled rice saw a month-on-month deflation -1.1% and year-on-year contraction of 2.8%.

For well-milled rice, the month-on-month deflation was at -0.4% while year-on-year’s rate was at 1.4%.

Special rice, on the other hand, posted a deflation of -0.5% month-on-month and -1.2% year-on-year.

Food security emergency on rice

Despite the downtrend in rice prices, the Department of Agriculture (DA) declared a food security emergency on rice based on the recommendations from the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC), citing high prices even after the cost of production was lowered, and lower tariffs on imported rice.

The declaration will allow the National Food Authority (NFA) to sell its buffer stocks to the public at P35 per kilo to tame the retail prices of the grain.

Asked if the declaration of food security emergency on rice was still necessary amid the contraction in rice inflation in January, Mapa said, “Any action to reduce the price is always beneficial to our Filipino consumers.”

In a statement, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said “the government continues to take proactive steps to make rice prices more affordable.”

“Consequently, the DA, with the endorsement of the National Price Coordinating Council, has declared a food security emergency to allow the release and sale of rice buffer stocks from the National Food Authority at lower prices in select Kadiwa ng Pangulo sites,” Balisacan said.

Overall inflation in January was flat at 2.9%, despite the contraction in rice inflation as several food items continued their uptrend following the consecutive typhoons experienced by the country last year. 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), likewise, said “the impact of lower import tariffs on rice remains as the main downside risk to inflation.”

“This is welcome news. It clearly shows that the efforts of President Bongbong Marcos, particularly the sharp tariff reduction last year, are steps in the right direction,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.

To further support rice price stability, the DA set a new maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice at P55 per kilo, down from P58 per kilo. —AOL/VBL, GMA Integrated News

Published Date: February 5, 2025