NFA: Rice stocks enough for lean months

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) -- The National Food Authority (NFA) has assured the public that there is enough supply of rice for the lean months.

"We have more than enough stocks of the good quality, low-priced NFA rice for the lean months,” said NFA officer-in-charge Tomas Escarez.

Escarez said that as of June 15, the agency has more than the 30-day buffer stock needed at the start of the lean months (July-September), with current inventories enough to last for 32 days.

"These stocks are now strategically prepositioned across the country, especially in calamity-vulnerable areas," he said.

Despite that, Escarez said he has directed field offices to accredit more rice outlets for NFA rice so that supply will be more accessible to all low-income residents anywhere in the country.

"Closer price monitoring and the opening of more rice outlets will ensure that our people will always have access to NFA rice," he said.

The country’s national rice inventory currently stands at 3.54 metric tons (MT), good to last for 110 days based on national daily requirement of 32,560 MT. Of this volume, some 1.02 million MT is with the NFA, 1.04 million MT is commercial rice, and 1.47 million MT is household stocks.