Commerce: No need to control price of rice

The Department of Commerce yesterday said it is taking a hands-off approach in the continued increase in the local price of rice, a staple consumed by about 90 percent of the Commonwealth’s population.

“Currently, the department is not in a position to dictate price controls to the markets regarding the price of rice. In essence, the only time we can step in as a government agency and regulate the price of rice, or any other commodities for that matter, is if there is clearly evidence of price gouging. But even then, the matter has to be in relation to some civil emergency or natural calamity for which this current situation does not clearly dictate just yet,” said Economic Development Division director John S. Blanco.

He said that the CNMI, like other rice-importing countries in the world, has no choice but to absorb the rise in the price of the commodity that is dictated by international market forces.

“For all intents and purposes, we are at the mercy of world rice prices and we have no other alternative, given the absence of civil emergencies or natural disasters, than to just ‘weather the storm’ until prices eventually return to normal,” he said.

Blanco, however, assured that the price of the staple will eventually stabilize soon and even advised the public to remain calm and not go into panic buying.

“On a more positive note, unlike oil prices which we anticipate to rise in the years to come, given the dwindling supply of that commodity, we do not see this happening with rice commodities and hope to see a return to more agreeable process in the near future. Until then, the best we could say to address this matter, is to not buy into the hysteria that is being created.”

Early this week the leading importer of rice in the CNMI, Micronesian Brokers, Inc., said the price of the staple will continue to increase until the end of the year.

Its general manager, Francisco Barja, said the international rice market is facing a difficult situation with demand outstripping supply and this has led to substantial price increases.

He added that rice-exporting countries like Thailand, China, India, Egypt, Vietnam, and Cambodia are hoarding their crops amidst droughts in China and Australia and production declines in the United States and Japan.

MBI is the leading importer of rice in the CNMI and sells class A Thai jasmine otherwise known as Hom Mali rice. MBI’s brands—Royal Thai and Royal Harvest—are the market leaders on Saipan.