RICE SECTOR STAKEHOLDERS
AGREE ON SRP, LABELLING
By Manny Piñol
Starting Oct. 23, all commercial rice sold in the public markets and supermarkets will have a Suggested Retail Price (SRP), clearly identified as imported from “Vietnam,” “Thailand,” and “Pakistan” or produced in the “Philippines” and properly classified.
Stakeholders of the rice industry – farmers, traders, millers and retailers – will meet today to agree on the SRP on three classifications of commercial rice – Regular Milled, Well-Milled and Premium.
Fancy rice like Jasmine, Jasponica, the Cordillera Heirloom Rice, the Malido of Iloilo, Organic Rice and Dinorado, will be classified as Special Rice and properly identified but will not be covered by the SRP.
By Oct. 23, there will be no more “Senandomeng,” “Super Angelica,” “Yummy Rice” or “Mindoro Dinorado” because these are not real rice varieties but only commercial names intended to lure buyers.
The stakeholders will also discuss a possible Suggested Floor Price (SFP) in buying locally produced palay to protect farmers from price manipulation because of the inflow of imported rice.
The (SFP) will be agreed upon by the farmers and the traders who will be represented in the rice sector consultation.
Two Cabinet Secretaries – Sec. Ramon Lopez of the Dept. of Trade and Industry and the Secretary of Agriculture – will be present in the morning meeting today at the Dept. of Agriculture (DA) office in Quezon City.
(Photo of a rice stall in Iloilo City was taken Oct. 9 by COS Bong Piñol)
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