NFA-7 to get 49,000 MT share from Thai, Vietnam rice imports

CEBU, Philippines - The National Food Authority in Central Visayas expects to receive 49,000 metric tons of rice from the 250,000-MT national importation recently awarded to Thailand and Vietnam.

Some of the shipment share of NFA in Region 7 will also be supplied to Region 8, Olma Marie Bayno, information officer at NFA-7, told The FREEMAN yesterday in an interview.

Bayno said that the 250,000-MT is part of the 500,000-MT "standby authority" approved by the NFA Council for buffer stocking of the government to fill in the gap estimated at 5 percent of national production caused by the El Niño phenomenon.  El Niño hit the country in the last quarter of 2015 until the second quarter of this year.

NFA has to beef up its food security stocks to maintain the mandated 30-day inventory level during the lean months.

According to Tomas Escarez, officer-in-charge at NFA, 40 percent of the rice shipments are expected to be delivered by end of September while the remaining 60 percent is by end of October. 

NFA said this would give sufficient lead time to preposition the stocks nationwide in time for the season of tropical storms and typhoons which usually occur during the end of the third quarter until the fourth quarter. La Niña is also expected to bring heavy rains in most parts of the country.

Bayno said that NFA-7's current inventory stands at 1.218 million rice bags.

She added that sales from January to August reached 1.280 million bags. 

Last August 31, the NFA Council approved the awarding of contract for the supply of 250,000 MT imported rice, 25 percent brokens, well milled at $424.85/MT to Thailand and Vietnam through state-to-state deals.

Thailand offered to supply 100,000 MT at $425.85/T while Vietnam is to supply the remaining 150,000 MT at $425/MT.

One MT is equivalent to 20 bags. Per bag contains 50 kilograms of rice.

The additional rice imports are part of the state’s contingency supply to prevent the staple’s possible scarcity due to the possible effect of natural disasters on rice production.

The Philippines remains one of the world’s biggest rice buyers.

In the first half of 2016, the price of rice, the staple food of Filipinos, registered a negative inflation rate, effectively pulling down the average for the food sector during the period.

Food inflation in the second quarter of the year increased by 2.3 percent from 1.6 percent in the first quarter on tighter supply of agricultural products due to El Niño.

In contrast, rice prices continued to decline compared to year-ago levels due to ample supply. (FREEMAN)