The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) said that a discernible drop in imported rice prices due to the reduced tariff will not be immediate and need some “lag time.”
“Ito naman ay hindi biglaan makikita kaagad ‘yung pagbaba ng presyo. Mayroon din lag-time ‘yan,” BPI Director Gerald Glenn Panganiban said in an interview on Dos Por Dos. “So tayo naman po ay nag-iimport lamang ng ating mga kailangan, so hopefully, by the end of the year—or early next year siguro—makikita siguro natin yung pagbaba rin ng presyo.”
(The decrease in prices will not suddenly be felt. It also has lag-time. We’re importing only what we need, so hopefully, by the end of the year—or maybe early next year—we’ll see the price decrease.)
The Philippines, despite being a major importer of rice, is not responsible for its prices on the international market, Panganiban also clarified.
“Tayo naman ay walang hawak diyan. Maaaring sinasabi dahil tayo ay maraming inaangkat, pero talaga naman lahat ngayon ng presyo ay halos tumataas dahil doon sa mga pagtaas ng logistics cost,” he stated.
(We have no hold over that. People may be saying that because we import a lot of rice, but really, almost all prices are going up because of the increasing logistics costs.)
