NFA rice imports start arriving in Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 10  -- Cheaper rice will be available in the market as early as Monday, as the first two tranches of rice imports have already arrived in the city.

National Food Authority (NFA) Eastern Visayas Regional Manager John Robert Hermano said the unloading of 79,000 bags of rice from Thailand has started Friday afternoon. The vessel arrived at the Tacloban seaport Thursday night.

Another foreign vessel carrying 140,000 bags of Thai rice, which was stuck at Bacolod port for several weeks, finally arrived in this city early Friday. A series of weather disturbances in the past few weeks delayed the rice delivery.

More shipments of Thai rice will arrive in the region within this month to complete the 480,000 bags requirement for July to December 2018.

Tacloban will be prioritized in the distribution next week considering its proximity to the port.

Replenishing of stocks will follow in Ormoc City in western Leyte and Catbalogan City in Samar, said the NFA official.

“Having subsidized rice back in the market will bring the price of staple food in the market lower since the difference is more than PHP10 per kilogram,” Hermano said.

Of the 480,000 sacks of rice, 124,000 bags is intended for Leyte, 50,000 bags for Southern Leyte, 30,000 bags for Biliran, 80,000 bags for Samar, 106,000 bags for Northern Samar, and 90,000 bags for Eastern Samar.

The new stocks will be available at PHP32 per kilogram in public markets and PHP27 per kilogram in economically-depressed areas.

“The NFA will deploy teams to the market to prevent rice hoarding, mixing of NFA and commercial rice, and overpricing,” Hermano 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 after stocks dwindled significantly.

The government attempted to replenish stocks through the import of 250,000 metric tons but bidding failed in the last week of April. The country reopened offers from the governments of Vietnam and Thailand in early May. (SQM/PNA)