BOCAUE, Bulacan—As speculations of rice shortage for the coming lean months of palay from June to September grow, commercial palay price has reached an all-time high of P21 per kilo.

Allan Paraiso, a palay classifier at Intercity Industrial Estate in this town, considered as one of the major rice-trading centers of the country, told the BusinessMirror that after Typhoon Cosme wreaked havoc on some rice-producing provinces in Northern Luzon, palay prices have soared, reaching an all-time high of P21 per kilo.

“Rice traders in Intercity currently procure palay at prices ranging from P19.50 to P21 per kilo depending on its quality and varieties,” Paraiso said.

At this price range, Marie de la Cruz, a rice trader in Intercity, explained that wholesale commercial rice prices would normally translate to P1,525 to P1,640 per 50-kilo sack, or P30.50 to P32.80 per kilo.

Rice retailers who buy wholesale rice stocks in Intercity, on the other hand, explained that they usually put a minimum marked-up price of P2 per kilo and up to P4 per kilo depending on where they unload their trade.

Arturo Figueroa, NFA manager in Bulacan, confirmed to the BusinessMirror that palay prices have already breached the P20-per-kilo mark.

“At this point, the palay harvest season, particularly in Regions 1, 2 and 3, is traditionally almost over, and most of the farmers’ palay stocks have already been sold to traders,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa added that farm-gate prices of palay are now currently being sold at P17.50 to P18 per kilo.

At this rate, Figueroa said his agency cannot simply procure palay from the farmers. He said the government support price for palay procurement was recently raised this harvest season from P12 a kilo to P17 per kilo.

Figueroa said his agency was not able to procure enough palay stocks for the coming palay lean months, but added that this will be compensated with the arrival of buffer rice stocks bought from other countries.

As the palay lean months slowly approach, palay traders in the rice-producing provinces like Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva Ecija are expected to slowly download their stocks to rice-trading centers, like in Intercity, with prices expected to rise slowly until the peak palay lean month of August, Paraiso said.

On the other hand, Figueroa said the province of Bulacan has enough rice stocks to tide it over for the next 125 days.

Figueroa said his agency in Bulacan, commercial rice traders and household stocks currently have approximately 1.7 million tons of buffer rice stocks. He added that his agency’s warehouses in Bulacan are currently being filled with additional rice buffer stocks that the government has bought from Vietnam.

Figueroa also said the consuming public need not be alarmed by the rising price of commercial rice as there are Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke that sell NFA rice at P18.25 per kilo. He said his agency has 209 NFA-accredited stores distributed throughout the province of Bulacan that sell rice at the government support price.

BOCAUE, Bulacan—As speculations of rice shortage for the coming lean months of palay from June to September grow, commercial palay price has reached an all-time high of P21 per kilo.

CABANATUAN CITY—The National Food Authority (NFA) here will adopt a “color-coding” scheme to further organize the system in selling government-subsidized rice.

A LOCAL think tank said if the government is sincere in its efforts to cushion the ill effects of high inflation, it should consider removing the reformed value-added tax (R-VAT) on oil and power along with the implementation of other revenue measures to ease the burden of Filipino consumers.

SEN. Juan Ponce Enrile elicited the support of several government agencies and private-sector representatives behind an antitrust bill prohibiting monopolies and price manipulations.

THE regional wage boards in Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas have approved salary adjustments for their workers, bringing to five the number of wage boards that have ordered pay increases this month.

SENATOR Loren Legarda wants to increase from the current 20 percent to 32 percent the automatic discount granted to senior citizens even as she moved to impose stiffer penalties on pharmacies that refuse to honor senior-citizen cards.

THE back-to-school season is a stressful time for consumers—there’s tuition to take care of, uniforms to order, budgeting for daily allowance, and school supplies to purchase.