00:00 For the price of some of the main products, some will choose to buy it at their own expense in search of cheap rice.
00:07 The question is, will we be able to buy rice that is cheaper than 50 pesos per kilo?
00:12 Let's find out in the news brought to you by Tina, Panganiban Perez.
00:15 The 38 pesos per kilo of imported regular milled rice was bought in this place in the Commonwealth Market in Quezon City
00:26 by the group PRISM or Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement
00:31 that sells 38 pesos of rice while the price is high in the markets.
00:36 Each customer can buy up to 5 kilos so that the supply will not run out and more people can buy.
00:44 How many bags can you sell?
00:46 5 bags to 10 bags per day, depending on the number of people.
00:51 Just be patient. My husband doesn't have a job.
00:55 This rice is close to the Commonwealth Market.
00:58 The local regular milled rice and local brown rice are given a discount of 4 pesos per kilo.
01:06 We only sell 5 kilos maximum. We don't sell per sack.
01:11 The owner of this has his own rice fields in Mindoro, Novaisilla and Davao.
01:17 That's why we were able to afford 4 pesos less.
01:20 In this place, in the Commonwealth Market, the lowest price of rice is 49 pesos for broken rice.
01:27 But the local regular milled rice is more affordable, even if it's more expensive per kilo because it's more worth it.
01:33 In Mega Q Mart, you can buy 40 to 43 pesos per kilo of yellow rice.
01:39 It's not that affordable. The highest price is 54 pesos.
01:45 Yes. As the price goes up, the price of this regular milled rice goes up.
01:49 In this Kadiwa outlet in the Department of Agriculture, there is no rice store.
01:55 But PRISM said that their DA's order is ongoing and it's possible to sell this within this week.
02:02 Our colleagues are just voluntarily helping in the rice industry.
02:07 You will not see this 100 percent in the entire Metro Manila market until we reach our harbors in September.
02:14 PRISM is hoping that the price of rice will go down in the next few months.
02:20 It depends on the number of our harbors.
02:23 We don't see any new harbors yet. We think that our harbors will be good by then.
02:29 Tina Panganiban Perez reporting for GMA Integrated News.
02:35 In the midst of the continuous increase in the price of rice in the country, rice importation is the government's fast target.
02:42 How is the domestically produced rice situation from our farmers?
02:47 To discuss this issue, we have with us this afternoon the President of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura o SINAG, Mr. Rocendo So.
02:55 Good morning to you.
02:56 Good morning, Raffy. Good morning.
02:58 How is the rice supply situation in the country? Is the support of the DA and NFA sufficient for our farmers?
03:06 Yes. The NFA is not buying rice. For the past seven months, the NFA has not bought rice for our farmers.
03:18 That's why we asked the Congress the other day if their portfolio is still the same.
03:25 They said they have 8.5 billion to buy rice. That's what we waited for, the NFA to buy rice.
03:36 So far, our harvest in September and October, we expect that even though the world market of rice is high,
03:49 our rice price will drop. The price of rice will return to P42 to P45 in October.
03:59 Aside from buying rice from our farmers, what role should the NFA play in terms of food security?
04:06 The NFA should have a holding volume. The 8.5 billion that can be bought is around 290,000 metric tons of rice, equivalent to 5.8 million bags.
04:26 The problem is they didn't increase from January to May. They don't have stocks. They don't have a mandate to import.
04:41 With the rice tariffication law, is the NFA still relevant and they are still doing their job?
04:48 That's why we are saying that if they're not doing their job, buying rice from our farmers, then we should close it.
05:00 Let's not give a budget or disown the NFA. The NFA should buy rice from our farmers.
05:10 The budget of 8.5 billion, they can buy twice because our season is dry season.
05:21 We have a third cropping. They should buy rice and if there's calamity, they should release it to LGUs and other places.
05:36 They should buy it from them. They're not giving free rice. After that, they can buy rice again.
05:46 They can't do it twice. That's why we're wondering why they didn't use the money.
05:52 But if there's no big calamity, can our local farmers really meet the needs of our country when it comes to rice?
06:00 Yes. As of now, our estimate, the end of the year, in the estimate of the SINAD, we have 64 days up to December 31.
06:14 The estimate of the DA, we have 54 days up to the end of the year.
06:19 So it means that the figure of the DA and us is almost the same. It means that up to the end of the year,
06:30 they have 54 days and we have 65 days that we can still leave rice after the end of the year.
06:40 But what they want is a longer period that we have stock.
06:45 In any case, if the importation of rice from India and Vietnam continues, will the price of rice go down?
06:54 The industry is not high. Some are able to get lower prices.
07:00 Traders are not stopping from importing. The importation is continuous.
07:07 Like now, Rafi, the price of 680 in Thailand landed. Now it's only at $640.
07:20 We can see that the price is going down because we know that our country is harvesting.
07:26 The majority of consumers will buy our local rice. Their buyers will be gone and they will lower the price.
07:41 What we can see is that they will follow the price that we harvest. So the price of Thailand and Vietnam will go down.
07:52 In our interview with the Bantay Bigas group, traders, millers and importers are holding the rice.
07:57 They can also play with the price of rice in the families. What can you say about this?
08:02 It's better to catch them. Teach them where the rice they are talking about is.
08:09 They are saying that there is hoarding. We think that if the price goes down, no one will stock more rice in their warehouse.
08:22 They will dispose it because the price will go down, not the price will go up.
08:27 So we think that all who have stocks, they want to out their stocks because the price will go down.
08:35 In your projection, what will be the direction of the price of rice in the coming weeks until the entry of the bare months?
08:41 Now, the price of rice for farmers is at Php28. So that means we can already see Php49 to Php50 of rice.
08:54 So if the price goes down, millers will average it. So the price will go down. We can see that by September, it will go down to Php26 to Php25.
09:08 So that means the price of rice will go down. So the price of rice in the market will go down.
09:17 Thank you very much for your time this afternoon.
09:21 Thank you very much, Rafi.
09:23 Thank you.
09:24 [Music]
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