THE farmgate price of palay (unmilled rice) fell 18.9% year on year in February to an average of P20.29 per kilogram, after rice imports hit record levels last year.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said all regions except the Eastern Visayas reported falling prices on average in the 12 months to February.
Month on month, the palay farmgate price fell 1.9%, the PSA said in a report.
Only five of the 16 regions posted growth in average farmgate prices from a month earlier — the Ilocos Region, the Central Visayas, Soccsksargen, Caraga, and Bangsamoro.
The highest palay prices in February were posted in the Eastern Visayas, where they rose 4.7% year on year and 2.5% month on month to P24.18 per kilo.
The lowest palay prices were logged in Calabarzon at P17.34, with the farmgate price in the region falling 31.0% year on year and 0.4% month on month.
The Department of Agriculture in January said it was expecting the palay harvest to exceed 20 million metric tons (MT) this year.
In 2024, rice imports hit a record 4.68 million MT, against 3.6 million MT a year earlier. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza