00:00The Department of Agriculture will announce the maximum suggested retail price for imported rice starting today.
00:07The government assured that the markets are following the price set for imported rice.
00:14Isaiah Mirafuentes is live in the center of the news.
00:20Naomi, 58 pesos is the suggested retail price for imported rice.
00:25The DA will now implement it starting today.
00:30In the last public market, Aurelia is buying rice.
00:33And there's a vegetable market that she often goes to.
00:36And what she always buys is imported rice.
00:39She says it's delicious and it has the aroma of coconut.
00:44But for her, the price of rice is high.
00:48It's better if it goes down so that the budget fits.
00:53Starting today, the Department of Agriculture will announce the maximum suggested retail price for imported rice.
01:00According to the DA, the most expensive imported rice is already 58 pesos.
01:06Before this, imported rice was worth 65 pesos for families.
01:13It's mandatory in the sense that because there was an agreement,
01:18in a way, it's being monitored now.
01:20Because we're going to issue guidelines because as of now,
01:24we're still planning the guidelines.
01:27So maybe in a way, we're not going to implement strictness yet.
01:32The DA also assures that the supermarkets are following the price set for imported rice.
01:38Specialty rice varieties such as malagkit, Japanese rice, and black rice are not included in the policy.
01:47MSRP also does not include 10 pesos per kilo nominal profit margin in the landed cost of imported rice.
01:54Aside from this, the former 40 pesos of rice can now be bought for 38 pesos in the province of Pangulo, Kiyosk.
02:02These are the RFA25 or 25% broken rice.
02:07The 45 pesos of rice or 5% broken rice can also be bought in the province of Pangulo, Kiyosk.
02:14The so-called worthy rice is also available for 36 pesos.
02:17And the aging but good quality rice stock of the NFA is 29 pesos.
02:23The Department of Agriculture is coordinating with the Metro Manila mayors
02:27to make the government's cheap rice available to all public and private markets in Metro Manila.
02:34The DA also said that it is possible this week to have a resolution
02:39in accordance with the Food Security Emergency that will be declared nationwide.
02:44There will only be two basis of this Food Security Emergency,
02:47the rice shortage and the extraordinary increase in rice prices.
02:51So, there is no problem with the rice shortage.
02:54We don't have that scenario now.
02:56The only thing we are looking at is the extraordinary increase in prices.
03:01The DA also hopes that the Kadiwa Stores will be expanded throughout Metro Manila.
03:05And through these projects, the price of rice will be lowered.
03:10Currently, the maximum suggested retail price for imported rice is only implemented here in Metro Manila.
03:17But according to the Department of Agriculture,
03:19they are planning to implement this in the provinces and the whole country.
03:24And aside from that, according to the DA, they told us earlier that they have people
03:29who go around the markets to make sure that the price of each rice is at the right price for the families.
03:37That is the update from the public market.
03:39Back to you, Naomi.
03:41Thank you very much, Isaiah Mirafuentes.
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