MANILA (UPDATE) —  The Department of Agriculture said on Thursday it was set to declare a food security emergency as rice prices stayed high despite tariff cuts and lower prices in the world market.

"Despite of tariff cuts and world prices going down, the price of rice has not gone down significantly, thus the current level of prices is extraordinary. The declaration of a food security emergency is a last resort or option for the DA," Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr said in a palace briefing.

In July last year, economic managers said rice prices would go down by P5 to P6 per kilo as early as August after the government cut tariffs on imported rice to 15 percent from 35 percent. 

According to the DA's own monitoring of rice prices in the National Capital Region, while the prices of imported well-milled and regular milled rice varieties had gone down, prices of special and premium rice remained high.  

Rice Prices in NCR from June 17 - 22, 2024 according to DA monitoring
Variety	Price per kilo
Imported special	60.65
Imported premium	56.84
Well milled	53.43
Regular milled	49.78

Rice Prices in NCR from Jan 6 - 11, 2025 according to DA monitoring
Variety	Price per kilo
Imported special	58.73
Imported premium	55.87
Well milled	47.37
Regular milled	42.73

Tiu-Laurel noted that under the amended Rice Tariffication Law, a food security emergency on rice could be declared due to a supply shortage or an extraordinary increase in price. This will allow the National Food Authority to release its rice buffer stocks to the public to stabilize prices.

“May solid data tayo that shows na justified talaga ito,” the official said.

The NFA currently has 300,000 metric tons of rice in their warehouses.

The Agriculture chief said they hoped to sell the NFA rice in areas with extraordinary increases in rice prices, such as Metro Manila, by February. The NFA may also sell its stocks to government agencies and corporations, and the Kadiwa program.

Tiu Laurel said he expected the move to bring down rice prices by as much as P3 to P5 per kilo. He added that with the coming harvest season, there was also a need to dispose of the rice in NFA warehouses to allow the government to buy rice harvested by local farmers.

“The DA is faced now with the NFA warehouses full. The NFA warehouses have almost 300,000 tons of rice and the harvest season is coming; and ang problema namin ngayon is we have to start buying rice at kung wala kaming mapaglagyan, mamumroblema kami technically,” he said.

“So, we really have to dispose of these rice and under the RTL (Rice Tariffication Law) natin, we cannot dispose of it unless it’s aging. But then, iyong aging, alam ninyo naman may oras iyan – paano namin magagawa iyan. But, we have to technically start really selling or distributing the rice we have dahil importanteng makabili kami sa farmers sa tamang presyo eh ‘no at, of course, para ma-rotate din natin iyong mga stocks.”

The National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) which is headed by Trade and Industry Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque, also backed the emergency declaration. 

MSRP AND RICE FOR ALL THROUGH MAYORS

The DA has said that it would implement a "maximum suggested retail price" (MSRP) of P58 per kilo for imported rice, effective January 20. Lawmakers however criticized the MSRP and said it was still high considering the landed cost of rice. The DA earlier said it may recompute this MSRP as global rice prices have gone down since December last year.  

Tiu-Laurel said the DTI has the mandate to implement the MSRP but DA has also the power to impose a price cap if necessary.

“Once the DA imposes a price ceiling then that has to be followed and ang penalty diyan ranges from P1,000 to P1 million per incident,” Laurel said.

Meanwhile, the DA also announced that it will cut prices for its Rice For All (RFA) program ahead of the MSRP implementation.  

Tiu Laurel said the price of the 25 percent broken rice variety sold under the program will be reduced to P38 from P40 per kilo starting Friday, Jan. 17.  

The DA also met with officials of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and some Metro Manila mayors for the implementation of the RFA in private and public markets in Metro Manila.

“The NFA will start selling rice to the LGUs hopefully by February at the price of P36 per kilo. And our hope is that the commission - the LGUs can sell it hopefully not breach the P38 rice. by March ibaba namin yung presyo nito P33 per kilo with the LGUs in Metro Manila and other major cities," he said.

He also clarified that cheaper rice under the Kadiwa program is not from confiscated smuggled rice, but a mix match of local and imported rice. The DA chief also assured the public about the quality NFA rice in all Kadiwa outlets.

Rice prices weigh heavily on the country's inflation rate as it makes up a big part of the consumer basket.