NFA interagency council pushes for rice importation

MANILA, Philippines — State-run National Food Authority is hopeful the interagency NFA Council will heed the advice of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to import 500,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as part of efforts  to control inflation.

The Speaker recently met with President Duterte’s economic managers to discuss measures to control the prices of basic commodities, particularly rice.

To temper inflation, the House recommended that the NFA be allowed to purchase 500,000 MT of well-milled rice with staggered deliveries over the next five months.

The economic team also comprises members of the NFA Council which approves the grain agency’s recommendations for importation.

“Hopefully, they consider it because it will be good for everybody,” NFA spokesperson Rex Estoperez told The STAR.

NFA, however, does not want to be overly confident just because its proposal to  import 500,000 MT of rice gained support from the House.

“I cannot assure that they will approve it because there a lot of factors that they need to look into,” Estoperez said.

NFA, however, has yet to submit its proposal as it is still awaiting the latest data on production forecast from the Department of Agriculture, household rice inventory from the Philippine Statistics Authority and the weather outlook from PAGASA for the second semester as basis for its own recommendation.

NFA inventory is currently  good for three days, still below its mandated buffer stock of 30 days during the lean season.

Continuous unloading and arrival of two batches of earlier imports, however, are expected to add to the inventory of up to five days.