Rice prices also rise amid global oil crisis

MANILA, Philippines, March 16 ------ Rice prices have increased and may continue to do so as market speculations swirl over supply disruptions and fuel price surges driven by the escalating war in the Middle East. Industry sources told that rice prices have increased by about P2 per kilo following the first wave of fuel price hikes last week. Prices may increase again this week as fuel firms are set to raise pump prices by almost P20 per liter.

Department of Agriculture (DA) officials earlier disclosed that rice prices may be affected by the global oil crisis since the sector uses fuel for various means, from harvesting to transportation. Aside from the fuel price spike, rice prices are also under pressure due to transport disruptions and spike in the farmgate price of palay, said Orly Manuntag, spokesperson for the Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines.

Some traders and wholesalers have reduced their deliveries despite the existence of rice stocks as fuel supplies for their transport fleet have been limited due to costlier fuel, Manuntag said. Furthermore, the rise in farmgate prices of palay, which hit as much as P30 per kilo in the past months, has influenced rice retail prices, including those of imported stocks, Manuntag added.

Global prices of rice are also facing some pressure after freight costs more than doubled to $50 per metric ton from $20 per MT due to more expensive oil, he said. Manuntag, co-founder of the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholder Movement, said the 850,000 MT of rice imported in the first two months of the year were not enough to make a sufficient dent in retail prices, noting that monthly nationwide rice demand is at 1.1 million MT.

All these compounding factors have offset the softening of imported rice prices in the past two months due to ongoing harvest in Vietnam, the country’s top supplier, Manuntag said. The average price of five-percent broken Vietnamese fragrant rice fell by 12 percent on an annual basis to its lowest level in the past year at $412.8 per MT, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. “The overall increase in costs will be passed on to customers since rice is a commodity,” Manuntag told The STAR.

Raul Montemayor of the Federation of Free Farmers said the retail rice price increase may have been due to “speculations” by market players on increased transport costs and reduction in future palay harvest if fertilizer prices rise. The prevailing price of premium imported rice, which is the most demanded variety by consumers, in Metro Manila markets has increased by almost 50 centavos per kilo two weeks after the US and Israel attacked Iran, based on DA data.

DA data also showed that the prevailing price of local premium rice rose faster than its imported counterpart as it increased by 90 centavos per kilo in the past two weeks. Wholesale prices of rice have been rising in the past 10 months, based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, tracking the movement of local palay prices that have benefited from the four-month import suspension last year. The average wholesale price of premium rice nationwide rose to P52.37 per kilo last month, marking its highest level at least since January 2025, PSA data showed. In the same period, palay prices hit P22.47 per kilo, the highest in more than a year, based on PSA data.

Meanwhile, the average retail price of well-milled rice in the second half of February hit P53.54 per kilo, up by P3.3 since the start of the year, PSA data showed. The wholesale price of some imported rice is now ranging from P1,300 to P1,500 per 25-kilo bag, translating to a per kilo cost of P52 to P60, industry sources said.

Source: philstar.com