THE additional rice imports of the Philippines could exceed 250,000 metric tons (MT) to increase the availability of low-cost rice sold by the National Food Authority (NFA) and cut high retail prices.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, who is also chairman of the NFA Council (NFAC), told the BusinessMirror that President Duterte has instructed him “to do whatever is necessary to ensure there is enough NFA rice in the market.”
“We can expect more imports [this year]. The instruction of the President is to fill the warehouses [of the NFA],” Piñol said when asked if he would propose more imports on top of the 250,000 MT initially approved and will arrive in November.
“The President has given me the leeway to make decisions, especially after the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong. We will have to make sure provinces affected by the typhoon would have enough rice for the next four months,” he added.
The agriculture chief is cognizant of the possibility that farmers’ income may be hurt by the influx of NFA rice in the market as this could pull down the farm-gate price of palay. He gave assurances that the hike in the government’s purchase of imported rice is just a “temporary solution” and that the NFA would “properly calibrate” its imports next year.
He said he will meet with NFA officials on Friday to determine the remaining budget of the agency for rice imports and that he will also start “cracking the whip.”
Piñol made his pronouncements after Ompong damaged about 474,838 hectares of rice farms in Northern Luzon, which had an estimated output volume of 558,441 metric tons (MT).
The volume was sufficient to supply the country’s rice demand for 17.45 days at a national daily requirement of 32,000 MT, based on the computation of the BusinessMirror.
The NFAC, which Piñol now chairs after the President recently issued Executive Order 63, is the highest policy-making body of the food agency.
Higher buying price
Piñol said he would push for an increase in the NFA’s support price to P20 per kilogram (kg) to allow the agency to buy more palay from farmers during the main harvest.
The agriculture chief said he would also propose to the NFAC to disallow traders and farmers’ cooperatives from bringing in fancy varieties of rice that are more expensive under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme.
“They sell the fancy rice for P55 per kg to P58 per kg, which has an adverse effect [on the market]. It actually sets the trend in pricing,” he said. “Now, given that Jasmine and long-grain rice are sold at higher prices, the local [varieties] follow suit,” he added.
Under the present guidelines of the NFA for MAV importation, private traders are allowed to import well-milled, 25 percent brokens or better. Piñol floated the idea after he visited the Commonwealth Market on Thursday morning, where he found out that imported rice sold at the retail level are 5-percent brokens. With a report from Butch Fernandez
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
