Salceda warns vs. diluting impact of Kadiwa rice

The more affordable Kadiwa rice should be sold only in areas where the prices of the food staple are high, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said.

Salceda, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, made the remark after an official of the Department of Agriculture said it was considering selling Kadiwa rice at supermarkets and convenience stores.

Kadiwa rice is sold at P29 per kilo to P38 per kilo. The most expensive rice in the markets have been sold at P60 per kilo to P65 per kilo.

The government has imposed a maximum suggested retail price of P58 per kilo on imported rice.

Kadiwa rice variants include the P29 per kilo that is currently being sold to the 4Ps beneficiaries, the P36 per kilo “Sulit Rice” which is broken rice grains, and the P38 per kilo “Rice-for-All” which is mixed with broken rice.

“Don’t dilute Kadiwa’s impact by spreading it too thinly. For Kadiwa to work effectively, it must have enough market share in areas with highly inflated prices,” Salceda told GMA News Online.

“Not all areas suffer from the same price bubbles. The higher the artificial inflation in an area, the more Kadiwa stores there should be in that area — to effectively undercut price manipulators and bring normalcy to prices as soon as possible,” he added.

Salceda said P58 per kilo MSRP was still too high.

"Prices should be closer to P50,” Salceda said.

The govenrment earlier placed an MSRP of P58 per kilo for imported rice. –NB, GMA Integrated News