Consumer group supports House probe on copra prices

Bantay Palengke, an organization of Filipino consumers, today cheered the plan of House of Representatives Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan to investigate the “continuing low prices” of copra in the market.

Congressman Libanan last week filed House Resolution 1062 and urged the committees on agriculture and food, and trade and industry to conduct the probe “in aid of legislation.”

According to Bantay Palengke Convenor Lester Codog, “We support Cong. Libanan’s initiative as consumers notice that while the market price of coconut oil is high, the raw material used to produce it is being bought at a very low price. Both our farmers and Filipino consumers are at the losing end of this issue. Lugi po ang ating mga magsasaka pero hindi pa rin mababa ang presyo ng produktong nakakarating sa mamimili.”

According to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the farmgate price of copra dropped to PHP20 per kilogram as of the first week of March this year, lower than the PHP42 trading price in March 2022.

“As a major agricultural commodity, copra contributes billions to our economy. It is about time that we give back to our coconut farmers by ensuring that they are being paid fairly. We are hoping that the House investigation will be able to get to the bottom of this injustice and result in appropriate legislative measures to address the problem,” Codog added.