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Friday, March 29, 2024

NFA plans huge rice import

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330,000 MT meant to boost PH buffer stock, but farmers oppose move

The National Food Authority (NFA) proposes to import 330,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to replenish the country’s buffer stock, but farmers rejected the suggestion outright on Friday.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the NFA wants to import rice “to cover an expected deficit in the country’s buffer stock for the relief operations of various agencies in the event of calamities this year.”

The PCO said the NFA’s proposed buffer stock of rice is equivalent to nine days of national consumption from July 2023 onward and would ensure sufficient volume for calamity and relief requirements from July to December.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., however, said Thursday the NFA should buy its buffer stock from local farmers.

A large farmers group agreed.

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“The first order for the Department of Agriculture and the NFA should be to help farmers increase their productivity to achieve the targeted rice production and augment the rice buffer stock. NFA pushing for rice importation is a great disservice to farmers and Filipinos,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) spokesperson Rafael Mariano said.

The government must buy more rice from farmers, instead of “allowing rice importers to make a killing,” Mariano said.

“Why is it that NFA itself is the one pushing for rice importation?” Mariano said.

He added that the NFA’s proposal runs counter to the Presidents declaration that the domestic rice supply is sufficient.

Current palay farmgate prices are at ₱23/kilo for dry and ₱18.50/kilo to ₱19/kilo for fresh—but the NFA wants to buy palay at P19/kilo.

The KMP said the increasing rice prices in retail markets are a persistent result of price manipulation by the rice cartel.

“For all we know, big rice traders and their cohorts inside DA are using the latest rice price hikes to push and lobby for more importation,” the group said.

The agricultural alliance Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) also opposed the NFA proposal, saying it could buy cheaper rice from local farmers.

SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said the landed cost of imported rice amounts to P36 per kilo, much higher than the locally produced rice at P20 to P21 per kilo.

“Local millers have long offered to mill the palay of NFA at discounted prices,” Cainglet said,

He also lamented how the government’s first recourse is to import agricultural commodities.

The Rice Tariffication Law allows the private sector to freely import rice, while the NFA is mandated to maintain an emergency buffer stock of rice sourced solely from local farmers.

But the NFA wants to import rice on a government-to-government basis through the Office of the President.

The PCO said the NFA, given the agency’s budgetary constraints, expects its buffer stocks will decrease to less than 500,000 sacks by July 2023 —equivalent to less than a day of public consumption.

“The NFA may use its credit lines with the Development Bank of the Philippines or the Land Bank to finance the importation and provide logistics and management support,” the PCO said.

Also on Friday, the chairman of the House committee of ways and means said he supported the call of the NFA to boost the rice buffer stock through “a mix of both domestic sources and imports” as the agency expects the country’s rice inventory to fall to 45 days’ worth of consumption, below its 90-day mandate.

Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, the panel’s chairperson, clarified that he hopes the government will limit its imports to the lean months of July and August.

“With El Nino, it’s always good to be prepared. Rice prices are actually declining globally, so it may be a good time to bolster our buffer stock,” Salceda said.

Salceda added, “anyway, we can always use excess inventory for pre-disaster and disaster relief operations.”

Global rice prices have declined by 3.2 percent from February to March 2023.

Salceda said he expects “global price levels for rice to be very close to pre-pandemic levels by July or August 2023.

On Thursday, the President assured the public that there would be no rice shortage in the country in the coming months.

Mr. Marcos gave the assurance following his meeting with NFA and DA officials at the Palace.

He said the country’s rice supply situation is in “good shape”, as he noted that the government is implementing measures to control the price of rice.

“We won’t have a rice shortage,” he said in Filipino. “And we are looking at different ways to control the price so that it wouldn’t increase that much.”

Under the DA 2023 supply outlook, the country’s total supply is at 16.98 million metric tons (MMT), which is sufficient to cover this year’s demand estimated at 15.29 MMT.

Based on this data, the DA said the country would have an ending balance of 1.69 MMT, which is equivalent to 45 days of buffer stock, instead of the 90-day ideal buffer stock to stabilize the price of rice.

Mr. Marcos pointed out that the NFA should build up its buffer stocks by buying from local farmers for now but acknowledged that the government might have to consider some importation.

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