It is said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is nervous because of the possible increase in the price of rice after the damage to agriculture caused by Typhoon Egay was reported.
In the situation briefing with the local officials of Tuguegarao, the President said that he is concerned about the supply of local rice, so stocks need to be strengthened to ensure that the Philippines is prepared for the impact of El Niño on agriculture so they will ask for a supply deal in India.
In preparation for the impact of El Niño and super typhoon Egay on the local harvest, the Philippines will start importing rice.
The President further explained that he was thinking about the national rice supply because Indonesia imported all of it, and Vietnam, as well as India, closed. Still, he said he thought he could make a deal with India. Maybe there would be something to ask for.
But right now, we should start importing because everyone is now preparing for El Niño, all of Southeast Asia is buying simultaneously.
Because of this, Marcos is afraid of the possible increase in the price of rice even if we import it.
According to the latest data from the National Disaster Coordinating Council or NDRRMC, typhoon Egay’s damage to agriculture is over P1 billion.
Rice prices might increase – President Marcos
Meanwhile, Cagayan Gov Manuel Mamba said in the said situation briefing that the damage to agriculture caused by the typhoon in their province had reached P539 million.
Corn production costs are P327 million, P123 million in high-value crops, P41 million in rice, P47 million in fisheries, P1.05 in livestock.
While the infrastructure damage in Cagayan is P862.3 million.
Marcos notified the local governments to submit detailed reports about the agriculture damage and the needs of the farmers.
It is said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) can also provide rice, corn and high-value crop seedlings to farmers as support.
Headline inflation or the overall inflation in the Philippines slowed down further to 6.1 percent in May 2023 from 6.6 percent in April 2023. This is the fourth consecutive month of deceleration in the headline inflation in the country. Despite the decline, the inflation rate in May 2022 was still lower at 5.4 percent. The year-to-date average inflation rate, that is from January to May 2023, stood at 7.5 percent.
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