From the Government, the Minister of Agriculture explained that in our country “there is our own production capacity” of rice and that in the face of the international contingency that local productive capacity “is more encouraged.”
The Government came out to calm the waters and promised to strengthen local production capacity, following Vietnam and Thailand – two of the world’s largest exporters of rice– agree to work together to increase the price and improve the financial situation of farmers, according to Thai sources cited by the EFE Agency.
The counselor of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture, Alongkorn Phonbutr, stated in a statement that they found that the price of rice on the international market is excessively low and “unfair” for producing countries and farmers.
“(The current price) is not logical with the increase in the cost of production, as well as the price of fertilizer and fuel due to the impact of the covid-19 crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war,” he specified.
With this, he set off an alarm: the imminent increase in the price of cereal.
But what will happen in the Chilean market with rice following the sayings of Vietnam and Thailand?
The Minister of Agriculture, Stephen ValenzuelaHe went out to calm the waters.
He explained in conversation with the media that in our country “there is own production capacity” and that in the face of the international contingency that local productive capacity “is encouraged more”.
“It is a spring planting (rice), so we are going to strengthen that sector”he promised, as a measure to contain prices and eventual rises.
According to Odepa, the Grade 1 wide grain rice has an average price in supermarkets of $1,584 per kilo. Grade 2 has, meanwhile, an average price of $1,428.
A year ago those average prices were $1,306 and $1,190, respectively.
In this line, it should be remembered that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded a monthly increase of 1.4% in July 2022, accumulating increases of 8.5% so far this year and 13.1% at twelve months, its highest record since the beginning of 1994.
This scenario, therefore, weighed down the purchasing power of Chileans during the last nine months.
Among the divisions with increases in their prices, food and non-alcoholic beverages have consistently stood out.
