Palay farmgate prices rise in April

THE FARMGATE price of palay (unmilled rice) rose 29.2% to an average of P23.31 per kilogram in April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a report.

Price growth accelerated from the 27.6% seen in March. Month on month, the palay farmgate price fell 2.2%.

All 15 rice-producing regions posted year-on-year growth in average farmgate prices last month. Caraga prices rose 61.4% to P24.07 per kilo. The lowest farmgate price was recorded in the Negros Island Region, where it was P24.91 per kilo, up 5.4%.

Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said wholesale and retail prices started to rise in December 2025 due to reduced rice inventories, particularly imported stocks, following the import ban that started in October.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. had approved a two-month extension of the rice import ban through the end of the 2025 to stabilize farmgate prices for palay.

When the ban was lifted in January, prices continued to increase because of high demand for, and delayed arrival of, imported stocks, Mr. Montemayor said via Viber.

Jayson H. Cainglet, executive director of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, said via Viber: “The supposed P23 per kilo palay price this month is a good price for our rice farmers, but in other areas, farmgate prices were still hovering between P17-19 per kilo.”

He added that the harvest season is almost over, and the capping of P50 per kilo on imported rice will have little impact on palay prices.

“What is more important to highlight is that this price cap on imported rice is a continuing admission of the failure of unprecedented level of imports to reduce retail prices of rice,” Mr. Cainglet said.

Since Executive Order 62 was imposed almost two years ago, only importers and traders have benefitted from tariff reductions, he added.

“As it is, a growing percentage of rice farmers are opting not to plant this next cropping,” Mr. Cainglet said.

Mr. Montemayor said that based on 2024 PSA data, projected surges in fuel and fertilizer prices alongside impending El Niño-induced drought conditions are expected to drive production costs up to P19.29 per kilo, an increase of nearly P5 over the previous year.

“Farmers will have to sell their palay at P24.29 per kilo so that they can recover costs and earn P5/kilo.  Even then, their net income per hectare will only be around P20,533, nearly half of what they earned in 2024.” — Pierce Oel A. Montalvo