NFA Council to adjust reference price for 203,000 metric tons rice imports

MANILA, Philippines — The National Food Authority Council will adjust the reference price used in the failed government-to-government bidding to secure the 203,000 metric tons (MT) of rice imports, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said.

He said the NFA council agreed to review and adjust the reference price for the bidding.

“We’re conducting another bidding next week,” Piñol said.

During the bidding on Tuesday, the governments of Thailand and Vietnam both offered bids way above the NFA reference price of $447.88 per metric ton for the supply of 203,000 MT of 25 percent brokens long grain white rice.

Piñol said the reference price were initially lower because rice prices in India and Pakistan, which were lower than Vietnam and Thailand, were included in the determination.

“Following the observation made by members of the council, the reference prices were limited to the prices of Vietnam and Thailand,” Piñol said.

“We still want to evaluate and report to the NFA Council for necessary direction. We do not want to speculate, preempt,or make any decision because these prices are what is on the board,” committee on government-to-government procurement chairperson and NFA assistant administrator Mercedes Yacapain told reporters.

“Our reference price is based on our study on the trends in the international market. What we will do is assess again, study the prices, report to our superiors who will give us the necessary directions,” she said.

During the initial bidding, Thailand, represented by its Department of Foreign Trade, offered to sell 100,000 MT of rice at $480.50 per MT.

In contrast, Vietnam, represented by Vietnam Southern Food Corp. II, offered to supply the whole volume at $483 per MT.

The NFA Special Bids and Awards Committee declared a failed bidding and asked both countries to resubmit offers.

However, the second round of bidding also failed as the ASEAN neighbors refused to lower their bid offers to align with NFA’s reference price.

Vietnam only lowered its bid to $481.50 per MT, while Thailand did not change its offer.

Last week, the bidding also failed after both Thailand and Vietnam decided not join the bidding proper amid conflicts with the terms of reference.

Only the two countries can participate in the bidding process since they are the only ones with an existing memorandum of agreement with the Philippines.

The 203,000 MT of rice forms part of the 750,000 MT of the commodity being readied for importation.

Prior to the G2G, only 47,000 MT of the first 250,000 MT were taken by private traders for the open tender importation.

Moreover, Piñol said there is no need to worry about any rice shortage for this year as the country has enough supply.

“We’re just beefing up our stocks,” he said.

“In our warehouses we have stocks for about 33 days. We have another 47,000 MT arriving by the end of November which could make it about 47days, so we’re safe,” the agriculture chief assured.