PRODUCTION

The deseasonalized palay production for the first quarter of 2019 was 4,692 thousand metric tons, lower by 0.4 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2018 output of 4,711 thousand metric tons. From 2011 to 2019, the highest deseasonalized palay output for the first quarter was in 2018 at 4,918 thousand metric tons and the lowest was in 2016 at 4,248 thousand metric tons.

Year on year, this quarter’s performance when deseasonalized was lower by 4.6 percent (Table 1).

Figure 1. Quarterly Palay Production, Philippines, 2011-2019

PRICES

For this quarter, the deseasonalized farm gate price of palay at P20.07 per kilogram went down by 5.3 percent from the preceding quarter. This was slightly higher than the 2018 first quarter’s level of P20.04 per kilogram (Table 1).

Figure 2. Quarterly Farmgate Prices of Palay, Philippines, 2011-2019

The wholesale price of rice for the first quarter of 2019 was P41.35 per kilogram. This was lower by 5.7 percent than the 2018 fourth quarter’s price of P43.84 per kilogram. Likewise, it rose by 2.1 percent from the previous year’s level of P40.51 per kilogram.

Figure 3. Quarterly Wholesale Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2019

On the other hand, retail price at P45.06 per kilogram for this quarter went down by 4.1 percent and 4.3 percent from its respective levels in the fourth and first quarters of 2018 (Table 2).

Figure 4. Quarterly Retail Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2019

ROSALINDA P. BAUTISTA
(Director II)
Office-in-charge
Sectoral Statistics Office