NFA hikes storage capacity of Cebu warehouse

CEBU, Philippines — The National Food Authority has increased the capacity of its rice storage facility in Cebu.

NFA in Central Visayas announced it has opened its newly constructed 120,000-bag capacity warehouse.

The warehouse "is typhoon and earthquake resistant "located at Cebu International Port (CIP) in North Reclamation Area, Cebu City.

"The construction of the additional warehouse will augment NFA Cebu's storage capacity at CIP from 600,000 bags to 720,000 bags," the grains procurement agency said.

Earlier, Olma Marie Bayno, information officer at NFA-7, had said the agency has since distributed roughly 114,000 bags of NFA rice in the region’s local markets since July.

While roughly 46,000 bags of rice had been distributed in Cebu.

This month, Central Visayas is expected to receive additional rice imports under the open tender bidding the government had in May with five suppliers from Thailand and Singapore were which were awarded the contract to supply a total of another 250,000 metric tons (MT) of 25 percent broken, well-milled long grain white rice for NFA.

Under this importation, Central Visayas was allocated a total of 480,000 bags of rice and 120,000 had since been delivered in the region. The remaining 360,000 bags are expected to arrive within this month.

Last week, the NFA Council (NFAC), the agency's policy-making, had approved the additional importation of 250,000 MT of rice to beef up the current NFA stocks.

In a Sept. 4 meeting, the council had instructed the NFA to hold an open tender immediately for the importation of the additional rice stocks to arrive in November 2018.

This developed amid the rising prices of the Filipino staple in the market.

The additional importation can increase NFA’s active participation in the market by as much as 20 percent.

As of August 29, NFA's rice inventory in Region 7 stood at 488,196 bags of rice stored in its warehouses in the region.

In Cebu, NFA has around 170 accredited retailers.

NFA rice sold in accredited stores in public markets are sold at P27 and P32 per kilo and only at a maximum of five kilos per purchase. (FREEMAN)