Cebu expects 1.5M bags of Vietnam rice

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 1.5 million bags of rice are expected to arrive in Cebu from Vietnam as part of the inflow of the programmed volume to be imported this year by the National Food Authority - Central Visayas.

NFA-7 information officer Lucy Rosales said 120,000 bags of rice arrived here last week as an initial shipment to augment their buffer stock for food security.

Cebu City is one of NFA’s destination ports of imported rice in Visayas because of its modern port facilities that could handle voluminous rice shipments.

Rosales said the 1.5 million bags of rice for 2014, however, are not solely intended for Region 7 but also for Region 8.

So far, Rosales said NFA-7 has over a million bags of rice as buffer stocks.

Rosales added that a slight increase of P0.50 per kilo for the commercial rice was noted based on their weekly monitoring in major markets here.

However, she said it is still normal considering that the price of palay in rice-producing areas, such as Isabela in Luzon, has increased to P22 per kilo from P20 to P21 per kilo.

NFA rice remained selling at P27 per kilo despite the months being lean.

“As far as NFA rice is concerned, we have enough stocks. The public has nothing to worry,” Rosales added.

Rice remains as a staple food among Filipinos and according to the Department of  Agriculture in their website,  it is an economic commodity. It is both a major expenditure item and a source of income for many households. — (FREEMAN)