The National Food Authority (NFA) will hold another tender for the supply of the remaining 203,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as the majority of the offers during Thursday’s bidding was above the agency’s price ceiling.
The NFA said only 47,000 MT out of the 250,000 MT was approved for supply by foreign traders, as most offers were higher by $29.20 to $50.30 per MT than the agency’s reference price of $428.18 per MT.
“We have to report to the council to address this. We need rice, and we need to act immediately,” NFA Deputy Administrator Judy Carol Dansal said in an interview with reporters after the open tender.
“We will have to rebid for the remaining volume. It is not a failed bidding. It is just that not all the volume were taken,” Dansal added.
Dansal did not disclose more details as to when and where the next tender would be held. She said the NFA Council would decide on the matter. The NFAC is the grains agency’s highest policy-making body that oversees the guidelines for rice importation undertaken by the government.
Thai Capital Crops Co. Ltd. made the lowest offer for Lot 3 in Batangas with a volume of 18,000 MT at $426.30 per MT.
Government-run Vietnam Southern Food Corp. is set to supply lot 4 in Tabaco port with 15,000 MT after it offered $427.68 per MT.
Vietnam Northern Food Corp. was also declared as the lowest bidder for the supply of 14,000 MT in Iloilo and Bacolod at $427.50 per MT.
The NFA allotted P5.833 billion for the importation of the 250,000 MT of 25-percent brokens, well-milled long grain white rice.
Winning bidders should deliver rice not later than November 30 as stipulated under the terms of reference approved by the NFAC.
The NFAC approved on September 25 the purchase of an additional 500,000 MT of imported rice, on top of the 250,000 MT it greenlighted on September 4.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, chairman of the NFAC, said the 500,000 MT will arrive in the Philippines before the end of the year. The additional volume would bring the total imports of the NFA in the fourth quarter to 750,000 MT.
Manila is racing to fill state warehouses with imported rice to cut the retail price of the staple and discourage unscrupulous traders from hoarding their stocks.
Piñol said the NFAC has also approved a standby import authority of 1 million metric tons for next year.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes