DTI works on import scheme for cheaper rice
Credit to Author: Anna Leah E. Gonzales| Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 16:31:25 +0000
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is currently working on a program that will help bring down retail prices of rice, a cabinet official said on Wednesday.
“We are working on importing rice for certain groups especially fast food chains. These are depending on traders. PITC (Philippine International Trading Center) will import on behalf of the food chains,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said at the 11th World Rice Conference held in Makati City.
“This will also be open for smaller groups such as supermarket who cannot import on their own. PITC will not make money, just pay the management fee. This will be our initiative to provide cheaper rice to consumers,” Lopez added.
The DTI is also conducting its own investigation to determine the cause of the huge gap between farmgate price of palay (unmilled rice) and retail price of rice, Lopez said.
“We are doing our own [investigation]. The FTEB (Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau) is going around and asking importers, so that they can trace the importation and their pass on price. The FTEB now is doing that, but we also welcome the investigation of other groups,” he said.
The trade chief said the investigation started two weeks ago and might be concluded next month.
Lopez said that while retail prices of well-milled rice already went down to P37 to P38 per kilogram (kg), they want to see more cheaper rice in the market.
“What we want is more cheaper rice. Now we are seeing a lot of P37 to P38/kg but at some there are P34 to P35/kg. But we want to see the range of P33 to P36/kg,” he said.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said there is a need to build a constituency for the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
“We need to make sure that a lot more benefits while ensuring that losers are adequately compensated. The RTL includes a safety net, which is the Rice Competitiveness Fund (RCEF). The RCEF is intended to help affected farmers increase their yield, diversify crops, reduce production costs and postharvest losses and cut marketing cost by as much as P1/kg,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia in his speech read by Undersecrertary Rosemarie Edillon.
Pernia said farmgate prices of palay have gone down faster than the decline in retail prices.
“The influx of imported rice was definitely a factor in this, but so is the lack of access to efficient and affordable drying facilities. At the same time, there could be unscrupulous traders who are taking advantage of the situation and bidding down farmgate prices unreasonably,” he said.
Pernia added that a Rice Task Force has been constituted composed of the Department of Agriculture with its concerned units, NEDA, the Department of Finance (DoF), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and the Bureau of Customs (BoC).
“The Philippine Competition Commission has also been brought in to look into possible anti-competitive practices, which is clearly illegal and even unconscionable,” Pernia said.