Mindanotoday.com | Retailers vow to display local rice
Thirty licensed grain retailers in Cagayan de Oro, most of them in public markets, have assured the city’s Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC) that locally-produced rice will be available to the consuming public.
Lawyer Jose Edgardo Uy, who heads the LPMC in Cagayan de Oro, on Saturday, September 9, said local rice labelled as regular-milled and well-milled rice are being displayed again at the city’s public markets.
LPCC members and rice retailers met on Thursday, September 7, at the Harbor Lights Restaurant amid reports local rice is no longer in the market after price ceilings took effect on Monday, September 2.
Executive Order No. 39 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos on August 31 mandated price ceilings on regular milled rice at P41 and well-milled rice at P45 per kilogram, with no fixed date for rice price control period.
Uy said the classification of rice, whether it is regular milled or well-milled, can be determined by the naked eye and by touching the grains. The former is a bit chalky and with more bran streaks while the latter’s grains are clear with less bran streaks.
Technical specifications the National Food Authority (NFA) has been using to determine the classification of rice are: 1-19 percent bran streaks for well-milled rice, and 20-40 percent brand streaks for regular milled rice. Premium rice grains are whole and free from bran streaks.
Imported rice, labelled either as premium or special, sold by retailers between P52 to P60 a kilo is not covered by E.O. 39. Some locally-produced are also labelled as premium rice and one of these is FICCO Premium Rice.
FICCO Consultant Isagani Daba, in a forum at Ayala Centrio mall on September 1, said they are selling rice cheaper compared to other brands of premium rice, even if they buy palay from farmers P2 or P4 more than the prevailing farmgate price.
Daba said FICCO wants help both palay farmers, many of them are their members, as well as their consumer-members. The forum was organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.
Representatives of the DTI, Department of Agriculture (DA), and the National Food Authority (NFA) sit in the LPCC.
In a statement, the NFA said that they are in the LPCC as member because they are into rice buffer stocking, even if their role to stabilize rice market prices was taken after the Rice Tariffication Law took effect on March 5, 2019.
NFA 10 Regional Manager Beverly M. Navarro and NFA Misamis Oriental Assistant Branch Manager Kharren Retiza served as resource persons in the meeting with rice retailers, particularly their know-how on milling degree determination which is the basis in the imposition of price ceilings.
DA Regional Field Office 10 hosted the meeting at the Harbor Lights Resort’s restaurant.
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