The government is coordinating with the local retailers to reduce the price of regular and well milled rice in Metro Manila following the significant damage caused by the recent tropical cyclones to the rice crops in Luzon.

In a radio interview, Assistant Agriculture Secretary Arnel De Mesa said based on the consultation with the retailers the reduction in the price of rice will take effect this week.

"It was agreed last week that the retailers can earn up to three to five pesos (per kilo). They get the rice for P38 per kilo so if they are going to add three to five pesos, let say five pesos, the price of regular and well milled rice is up to P43," he said.

De Mesa said the price of regular and well milled rice will be reduced to around six to eight pesos from the present retail price of P50 to P52.

"We saw that the P50 price of regular and well milled rice for the past how many months is very consistent, sometimes it reaches P52 but it doesn't go down to P50 per kilo," he said.

De Mesa noted that the reduction of rice prices that will start in Metro Manila will also be felt nationwide.

"We see that it will not be the same because every region has their own structures of costing and of course the cost in other areas might be more expensive, the shipping cost, fertilizer, input might be much higher or lower. So it should be based on the cost structure of every area," he said.

"You can expect that there are areas where the price of rice will be much cheaper than P45 or a little higher," he added.

Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council shows that the damage to rice crops reached over seven billion pesos due to the recent cyclones including Severe Tropical Storm ''Kristine'', Typhoon'' Leon'', Typhoon ''Marce'' and Typhoon Nika. Robina Asido/DMS