BOCAUE, Bulacan — Rice prices at the Intercity Industrial Estate and Golden City Business Park in this town, considered as two of the major rice trading centers of the country, have started to rise despite the peaking palay harvest season.

Rose Dalangin, former president of the Golden City Business Park Association confirmed in a text message that current palay prices are pegged at P28.00 to P29.00 per kilo depending on its qualities and varieties.

Traders in the two rice trading centers in Bulacan said on the average, wholesale commercial palay prices range from P1,150 to P1,280 per 25-kilogram sack or P46.00 to P51.20 per kilo depending on its qualities, varieties and rice milling recoveries.

On the first week of this month, rice traders in the two rice trading centers have confirmed that palay prices have averaged between P25.00 to P26.00 per kilo translating to an average wholesale commercial rice prices from P1,050 to P1,100 per 25-kilo sack or from P42.00 to P44.00 per kilo.

On the other hand Tony Santos, a wholesale rice trader in Intercity Industrial Estate said the rising palay prices can be attributed to the shift of rice procurements by big-time rice importers to their procurement of local palay harvests and processed it into graded whole grain rice that is cheaper compared to imported rice.

A stiff competition for local palay procurement among imported rice traders and local rice traders has led to the rising rice prices, Santos noted.

The rising prices of imported rice was also confirmed by Rosendo So, president of the president of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).

So said that based on SINAG’s monitoring, imported rice has increased by $30 per metric ton.

Photo: Mon Lazaro