Prices of commercial rice in Negros Occidental decrease in June

BACOLOD CITY – The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) in Negros Occidental monitored a decrease in the average price of commercial rice in the province for the month of June.

This month, the average price of commercial rice among retailers ranges from P36 to P41 per kilo. It is lower than the P37 to P43 per kilo from January to May 2015.

The average price of well-milled rice, however, remains at P44 to P46 per kilo for the first half of the year.

In terms of wholesale, prices decreased to P1,800 to P1, 900 per sack this month from P2,000 to P2,200 per sack in March.

Mary Ahcy Azuro, provincial agriculturist I, said the decrease in prices of commercial rice is associated with sufficient supply of the commodity.

Azuro said many rice farmers in the province harvested their crop in the past two to three months thus, there is enough supply stored aside from the additional supply especially of well-milled rice coming from different provinces.

“As lean period starts this month, prices of commercial rice is supposed to increase but because the stock is enough, prices remained stable and even went lower,” she said.

Azuro added that since some farmers have started planting in April, there will be harvests by August thus, prices will possibly still remain stable.

OPA also noted a better rice production in Negros Occidental from last quarter of 2014 towards this year.

Earlier, the National Food Authority (NFA) Negros Occidental revealed that it failed to distribute its target rice distribution in the first five months due to the large supply of commercial rice in the market with competitive prices.