THE Department of Agriculture said it ordered one of its agencies to conduct more inspections of rice traders to enforce the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) of P43 per kilogram.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS) teams will inspect retailers and warehouses to monitor adherence to the MSRP.
“If complaints are validated, retailers will be issued show-cause orders,” he added.
Assistant Secretary Genevieve E. Velicaria-Guevarra of AMAS said four such letters have been issued in Metro Manila.
Rice imports were suspended starting Sept. 1, initially for 60 days, but could be extended to the end of the year. The freeze on imports was intended to provide relief to domestic farmers, who have been receiving weak offers for their grain from traders at the farmgate level.
Mr. Laurel said traders had imported 800,000 metric tons (MT) of rice prior to the ban, adding that the supply of imported rice before those shipments had been 1.2 million MT.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is expected to extend the import freeze until the end of the year due to the lack of improvement in farmgate prices. — Andre Christopher H. Alampay