THE average farmgate price of palay in September plunged to its lowest level in nearly five years, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data from the PSA showed that the average farm gate price of unmilled rice fell by 30.5 percent to P15.60 per kilo in the reference month from P22.43 per kilo last year.
The latest farm gate price is the lowest level recorded since November 2020, when it settled at P15.03 per kilo, based on PSA data.
On a monthly basis, the average quotation in September dropped by 8.6 percent from P17.06 per kilo in the previous month.
Ilocos Region had the fastest decline in the reference month, where the farm gate prices had a year-on-year drop of 43.5 percent, based on PSA data.
The farm gate prices in the region averaged P14.3 per kilo in September, lower than the P25.29 per kilo last year.
This was followed by Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), which registered a 38.2-percent contraction to P12.79 per kilo last month from P20.71 per kilo in September 2024.
Top rice-producing regions Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley also posted a year-on-year decline in farmgate prices of palay by 32.9 percent and 36.8 percent, respectively.
The government has been scrambling to prop up farmgate prices of paddy rice, which fell to a low of P8 per kilo, especially with torrential downpours threatening to blunt improvements in palay harvests due to poor grain quality.
President Marcos earlier imposed a temporary ban on foreign rice shipments for 60 days starting September 1, as industry sources claimed that the unabated entry of cheaper imports pulled down the farmgate price.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel also announced that the government will extend the import ban until the end of 2025.
He added that Marcos is considering restoring the 35-percent rice tariff, which was slashed to 15 percent in July 2024 as part of the government’s effort to bring down retail prices.
‘If the tariff hike is approved, well and good,’ Tiu Laurel said. ‘But if not, our fallback plan-already supported by the President-is to allow importation only in January, and suspend it again from February to April to protect the next harvest.’
The DA chief also noted that Marcos would issue an executive order that would set a floor price for unmilled rice, which he said should be P17 per kilo for wet palay.