MANILA — The head of the Agriculture Department’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) on Wednesday said rice prices have finally started to stabilize.

The agency said that based on its monitoring, 90 percent of rice retailers in Metro Manila follow the mandated price ceiling of P41 per kilo for regular milled rice and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice.

"Dahil nga ang ating mga presyo ay nagiging stable na, once we find, the [Department of Agriculture] and the [Department of Trade and Industry], find it na ito ay stable na, we can already recommend to the President kung ano ang future na puwedeng gawin," said BPI Director Glenn Panganiban.

The Agriculture Department said that as of Tuesday, rice was being sold in Metro Manila at P40 to P62 per kilogram.

• Special (blue tag) - P54 - P62
• Premium (yellow tag) - P49 - P60
• Well-milled (white tag) - P45 - P49
• Regular-milled (white tag) - P40 - P45

Here are the prices of imported commercial rice:

• Special (blue tag) - P53 - P65
• Premium (yellow tag) - P48 - P58
• Well-milled (white tag) - P45
• Regular-milled (white tag) - NOT AVAILABLE

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Video from PTV

Panganiban said he hopes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will soon lift the price controls, but added that it was still unclear when the President would do this.

"But we hope so (for it to be lifted) dahil nga nagiging stable na naman iyong prices," Panganiban said.

He also assured the public that the country has enough rice supply for now.

ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo on Tuesday said Marcos might lift the price cap on rice in the coming weeks.

"What I've been hearing from Malacañang, the President may suspend it hopefully by the end of the month or around October," Tulfo said.

The lifting of the rice price cap could begin when newly harvested rice starts to enter the market, according to the lawmaker.

• Marcos Jr defends rice price cap: Public must be able to buy affordable rice