THE Philippines' rice supply will remain sufficient in the first of the year but prices of the staple will be elevated due to the El Niño weather pattern, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

Tiu Laurel assured the public on Thursday that rice supply was enough due to adequate local production and imports.

AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel. Photo from Department of Agriculture

However, he said that prices may remain high until September, attributing it to the impact of El Niño, especially on global rice supply, which increased demand and international prices.

"What we need to guard against now are profiteers who may attempt to exploit the situation by using El Niño as excuse to hoard rice supply to push local prices to unreasonably high levels," Tiu Laurel said

Citing a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the DA noted that rice was a major risk with regards to inflation.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa has said inflation could have been lower were it not for the double-digit increase in rice prices compared to last year, given its weight in the consumer basket.

Mapa said that "since price base for rice between January and July last year was lower, any increase in the price of the national staple could be magnified in the inflation print."

Rice equates to 8.87 percent of the consumer basket used to determine headline inflation.

Headline inflation in January eased to 2.8 percent, its slowest since October 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tiu Laurel said a total of 750,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice was expected to have arrived in the country in December 2023 and January this year.

A five-year rice trade agreement was also signed between the Philippines and Vietnam. Under the memorandum of understanding, Vietnam pledges to supply the Philippines with 1.5 to 2 million MT of white rice annually.

India, meanwhile, also promised to provide the country with additional supply despite the import ban on non-basmati rice.

Furthermore, the Agriculture chief said that they will strengthen coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry and law enforcement agencies to closely monitor surges in the price of rice in the market.