Rice prices in Negros Oriental slightly dropped due to the importation of the commodity, as well as local production, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.

Rice traders in Dumaguete City said a 50-kilogram sack of premium rice is now pegged at roughly P2,500 compared to about P2,800 in the previous months.

In an interview, Alejandro Rafal of the DA – Provincial Agriculture Technology Coordinating Office (PATCO) confirmed the rice price adjustment.

Rafal noted that importation is necessary to ensure an abundant supply in the market as local production is not enough.

“The volume of our local production of rice is not enough to feed the requirements of the province, thus the need to import rice,” he said.

“The province has an average rice requirement of 9,000 bags a month, and we are only 32 percent self-sufficient in rice production annually.”

Negros Oriental has an annual rice requirement of 116,000 metric tons.

However, its annual production is only pegged at about 35,000 metric tons.

Rice farmers whose crops survived the El Niño-triggered drought have begun infusing the market with their yield, although there is no available data just yet in terms of volume.

Danford Sy, president of New Bian Yek Commercial, Inc. and one of the biggest rice traders here, said the province is lucky to have received the recent importation from Vietnam compared to other provinces.

“If you ask other areas like Cebu, they are having a hard time not because there is no stock but because of the rains,” Sy said.

Rafal said the province received a rice shipment from Vietnam on April 21 with 4,100 metric tons or 116,000 bags of the staple.

On July 8, another shipment from Vietnam arrived here consisting of 2,050 metric tons or 53,000 bags of rice, he added.

Rafal said direct importation has contributed to the reduction in the costs of rice in the local market. (PNA)