MANILA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A Philippine official said on Thursday prices of rice will go down in the coming weeks as newly-harvested palay from Central and Northern Luzon start to come into market, local television network GMA News reported.

    An official of the National Food Authority (NFA), a government organ in charge of buying food for securing enough food in the country, said price of palay has started to normalize with the influx of fresh supplies following the summer harvest.

    "They don't have to speculate, we have enough supply for them," the TV report quoted Thomas Escarez, an NFA spokesman, as saying.

    The report said price of palay has dropped to 14 to 15 pesos (3.4 to 3.6 U.S. dollars) per kilogram from 20 pesos last week in the province of Bulacan neighboring Manila, after stocks kept coming from Cagayan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Isabela in northern Luzon, which are known as the granaries of the country.

    The price of rice, the staple food of the Filipinos, has almost doubled since the beginning of the year, because of fears of shortage in international supply and emptying stocks in the country, which is one of the biggest importers of rice in the world.

    The government has been buying rice and other food from international market with high prices and providing the country's poor with subsidized rice, sold through official stores run by the NFA and guarded by the military.