Rice prices  may normalize as supplies are expected to arrive in the second week of September, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

The government begun implementing the price cap of 41 to 45 pesos for the regular and well milled rice today (Tuesday) as part of its effort to control the “massive” price increase especially in Metro Manila.

“The rice supply will be coming in the second week of September. The local produce and imports are there. There is no reason to increase the price of rice and we can bring back to the usual price,” said Marcos in his departure speech for the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in Pasay City on Monday.

To lessen the impact of price cap to the retailer who recently bought their stocks at a high price, Marcos assures that the government will provide assistance to help the affected rice sellers.

“For the rice retailers you don’t have to worry… The government is here to provide assistance for all of you, for you to recover from the losses due to price cap,” he said.

“We also calculated to possible losses of the rice retailer because of the price cap. That is why the DSWD assures that they have funds prepared to provide assistance for the rice retailers,” he added.

As the inflation rate rose to 5.3 percent in August from 4.7 percent in July 2023, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said increase was mainly due to higher inflation in food prices, particularly rice and vegetables.

NEDA noted that the “rice inflation increased to 8.7 percent in August from 4.2 percent in July 2023.”

“The expected reduction in rice production due to El Niño and the export ban recently imposed by major rice exporters such as India and Myanmar led to higher international rice prices. In addition, the alleged hoarding incidents, artificial shortage, and speculative business decisions of market players may have put further upward pressure on the domestic retail price of rice,” it stated.

NEDA said “vegetable inflation, on the other hand, rose to 31.9 percent from 21.8 percent due to production losses from the enhanced monsoon rains and Super Typhoon Egay”. Robina Asido/DMS