NFA Eastern Visayas eyes imported rice shipment next week

PALO, Leyte, July 11  -- The National Food Authority (NFA) is eyeing the shipment of 140,000 bags of rice from Thailand to Eastern Visayas next week after months of zero stock of cheaper rice.

The foreign vessel carrying the Thai rice is now in Bacolod to unload the allocation for Negros Island.

Processing has been delayed in Bacolod due to bad weather, said Raymond Tafalla, NFA Eastern Visayas assistant regional manager, on Wednesday.

The volume represents the first delivery of the 240,000 bags allocation for the region’s six provinces. The remaining bags are expected to arrive in Eastern Visayas in the next two weeks.

“The new shipment will ensure the region of enough rice supply for at least a week if NFA will be the only source of staple food. Since the supply is very limited, we will control the distribution,” Tafalla told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

The volume is only a small fraction of the 60-day buffer stocks target as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Of the 240,000 sacks of rice, 62,000 bags are allocated for Leyte province, 25,000 for Southern Leyte, 15,000 for Biliran, 40,000 for Samar, 53,000 for Northern Samar, and 45,000 for Eastern Samar.

The incoming stocks are expected to bring down the price of commercial rice in the market with the availability of NFA rice at only PHP32 per kilogram, said Tafalla.

The NFA official admitted the absence of NFA rice in the market contributed to the increase in the price of commercial rice to PHP45 to PHP50 per kg.

“We will activate teams and deploy them in the market to check that cheaper rice will not be sold as commercial rice,” Tafalla added.

The country is supposed to receive the rice shipment between May to June, but it was delayed due to failure of bidding last April.

Since early this year, the NFA has stopped selling rice in the six Eastern Visayas provinces due to dwindling stocks. (SQM/PNA)