Secretaries Manny F. Piñol (Agriculture) and Ramon Lopez (Trade and Industry) rolled-out today, October 27, 2018 the Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for rice at the Commonwealth market in Quezon City.
Following a series of consultations with rice stakeholders, DA and the National Food Authority Council have set the price per kilo of rice as follows:
Imported well-milled – P39
Imported premium (PG1) – P43
Imported premium (PG2) – P40
Local regular-milled – P39
Local well-milled – P44
Local premium grade – P47
Special rice – no SRP
Also, starting today, rice sold in the markets will only be classified as regular milled rice (RMR), well-milled rice (WMR), premium and special.
“There will be no more Sinandomeng, Angelica, Super Yummy, or any other rice names in the market. The traders have deceived consumers for a very long time with this make-up names and so it stops now,” Piñol stressed.
The Agri chief added that the SRP does not cover special rice including organic brown rice, upland rice, red and black rice, Dinorado, Milagrosa, Hinumay, Kamaros, Malagkit and other indigenous rice varieties.
The SRP will be imposed in major markets within the National Capital Region and parts of the Greater Manila Area.
The SRP will also be implemented in the provinces in the coming weeks.
Piñol added that DA and DTI are looking at setting price standards for rice sold in supermarkets, which were reported to reach as high as P100/kilo.
The SRP was the result of a series of consultation with rice stakeholders and the National Food Authority Council, which developed the Guidelines on the SRP for Milled Rice and Prescribing Labeling of Rice Boxes and Price Tags.
According to the Guidelines, rice shall be classified as regular milled if it contains about 20-40% bran streaks; well-milled with 1-19% bran streaks; and premium grade if it contains a maximum of 5% broken kernels with 0-19 % bran streaks. Special rice are glutinous, aromatic, pigmented japonica, micronutrient-dense rice, including varieties with excellent eating and nutritive quality.
The NFA, in coordination with other regulatory agencies, shall monitor the implementation and compliance. After the 15-day publication period, violators will be slapped with penalties including the cancellation of permits, imprisonment and fine amounting to P1 million.
According to the Secretary, all the hard work and shared pain are geared towards addressing the directives of the president to flood the markets with rice.
“Sabi po ng Pangulo punuin ng bigas ang merkado, kaya salamat po sa inyong pakikipagtulungan at sakripisyo,” Piñol said. (odarodriguez/DA-AFID)
