THE National Food Authority (NFA) Council is planning to increase the service fee the government charges for every bag of rice that the private sector will import for 2011, NFA administrator Angelito T. Banayo said.
Banayo, who is also vice-chairman of the NFA council, disclosed that members approved the recommendation to just bid out the service fee instead of imposing a fixed amount for it. The existing service fee is pegged at P25 for every bag of rice imported by the NFA on behalf of the private sector using the agency’s tax expenditure subsidy.
“There will be a minimum rate [for the service fee] and it will definitely be much higher than the existing service fee. We cannot divulge [the rate] yet because we have to await the approval of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board [under the Finance department],” he said in a telephone interview.
In line with the government’s policy of removing the rice importation monopoly of the NFA, all private grains businessmen were allowed to undertake importation. Private grains businessmen have two windows—either they import rice and pay duties and taxes and other fees that may be required by the bank and the Bureau of Customs or pay the service fee charged by the NFA for allowing their use of the agency’s tax expenditure subsidy.
The NFA did not say whether the imported rice will be sold under the NFA label or will be distributed commercially. Banayo said the council has recommended an “innovation” with regard to the distribution of imported rice.
“If the rice imported by the private sector will be distributed commercially, then the possible increase in service fee could translate to higher prices for commercial rice,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, lead convener of Rice Watch Action Network.
Banayo also refused to disclose the exact volume of rice that the private sector will be allowed to import in 2011. “We cannot reveal figures [but] the private sector may be allowed to bring in more than half of the volume that the NFA council has approved.”
The Inter-Agency Committee on Rice and Corn has approved the importation of as much as 1.3 million metric tons (MMT) of milled rice for 2011.
“This does not mean that we will bring in the entire volume. It’s the maximum that we will buy for the year,” he said.
The Philippines expects to bid out the volume of rice it would require for the year in March.
Banayo said the government will ensure that the bidding for imported rice will be “transparent.”
The maximum volume that the Philippines is expected to import this year is lower than the 2.3 MMT imported in 2010.
Manila is hopeful that it will no longer be dependent on the international rice market for its requirements by 2013. The government has rolled out a “rice self-sufficiency plan” which targets the increase in production to 21 MMT in 3 years.
