Sale of NFA rice dips as comm'l rice prices stabilize

published in Leyte Samar Daily Express

TACLOBAN CITY — Demand for government rice went down by 40% this month in Eastern Visayas as prices of commercial rice continue to decline after it escalated to a record high during the second and third quarters of this year.

National Food Authority (NFA) Regional Manager Benjamin Marta said that last August the food agency was selling 16,000 bags a day, but this was reduced to only 9,000 bags last month.

Marta explained that market participation for cheaper rice decreased to 17.20% at present from 20% last August. Of the six provinces in the region, Leyte posted the lowest market input pegged at 11.21%.“Leyte has a big volume of harvest. There’s less demand for NFA because even farmers don’t buy cheaper rice anymore,” Marta told Leyte Samar Daily Express.

Eastern Samar posted the highest market participation for government-subsidized rice at 36.32% but still relatively low than the 48% during the third quarter. Other provinces registered an average of 12% to 30% market participation.

The price of commercial rice has reached to as high as P50 a kilo in previous months.
“Since we flood the market, private traders were forced to bring down the price to an affordable level. It turned out now that even poor families prefer to buy commercial rice,” Marta said.

The official said that traders who purchased huge volumes of unmilled rice, or palay, in anticipation of higher demand during the off-harvest season were unable to unload their stocks because of the availability of government rice in the market.

In the region, the P18.25 per kilo NFA rice is available at Tindahan Natin Outlets. The P25 per kilo commercial grade, on the other, hand can be bought in Bigasang Bayan sa Palengke.

Rice traders claimed that oversupply of NFA rice caused sales of commercial grains to decrease by around 50%, which forced them to adjust prices to sustain their business.

Marta said that between September to October, rice prices are starting to fall as good harvests and government importation bring in supplies of the staple food down to depressed areas.

“It’s nice to note that price stabilization came out naturally. No more long lines in the market. We’re not worried if our sales have been going down because we are not here to compete with other traders. Our task is to give consumers an option,” he added.

The NFA regional chief aired his observation that farmers tend to keep their harvest in their houses rather than selling it to trader for the fear that cost of staple food would rise in the next months. (Sarwell Q. Meniano)