Commercial rice sold at prices ranging from P34 to P39 per kilo are now available at some supermarkets, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Sunday.
That’s the good news for today, Lopez said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.
DTI allowed selected retailers to import rice without going through traders as mandated by Administrative Order No. 13 approved by the National Food Authority Council in October.
Robinsons Supermarket is the first outlet which already complied with the new policy and could sell commercial rice at those prices. Robinsons has 88 branches in Manila selling rice lower than P40 per kilo, Lopez said.
Lopez said that apart from Robinsons, Puregold and Gaisano will also start selling commercial rice at these prices soon.
The suggested retail price for rice is currently at P39 per kilo, Lopez said.
At the height of supply shortages that sent rice prices soaring, ordinary rice vanished from store shelves, only special varieties were selling at no less than P55 per kilo, he said.
The supply lack prompted the government to order the importation of rice.
At least one million tons of rice entered the country this year, with the last batch comprising 750,000 tons, according to the NFA.
The NFA said another one million metric tons of rice would be coming in next year, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said last Sept. 24.