Prince Warehouse files for NFA accreditation

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu-based supermarket chain Prince Warehouse Club is seeking accreditation from the National Food Authority to sell government-subsidized rice in some of its branches.

Company CEO Robert Go told The FREEMAN yesterday the firm has already submitted its accreditation application to NFA.

Go said NFA will give the supermarket firm an allocation of the cheap rice.

“We want to help bring down the price of rice if we can,” the businessman said.

“We have premium rice and repack them to 5 and10 kilograms and we also need to repack whatever rice NFA will give us at our cost,” he said.

The NFA has been urged to fast track the accreditation of retailers seeking to sell NFA.   Go couldn’t tell yet when his company’s accreditation will be approved.

But if the retailer gets approval, he said he wants NFA rice to be sold in his stores located in far flung areas where cheap rice is most needed.

“We want to start selling in our far flung branches but as of now we are waiting for the approval,” he said.

Go noted they haven’t gotten any feedback from NFA yet.

There’s a move now to have more supermarkets sell NFA rice, which is sold at P27 per kilo for regular milled rice and P32 per kilo for well milled rice.

In Cebu, Prince Warehouse, which is a member of Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association Inc. (PAGASA), is the only supermarket chain that’s being tapped to sell the cheap government rice in some of its branches.  The Department of Trade and Industry identified these Prince outlets include Cebu City, Mandaue City, Argao, Daanbantayan, Dalaguete, Danao, Minglanilla, Opon, Sibonga and Tuburan; as well as its branches in Silay and Tanjay in Negros Oriental.

Currently, NFA rice is mostly sold by accredited retailers in public markets.

Recently, the NFA had signed a tripartite memorandum of agreement with DTI and PAGASA to make NFA rice available in various supermarkets nationwide.  NFA rice will be sold at P27 per kilogram packed in two-kilogram packs.

PAGASA supermarkets serve the BCD market and include Liana’s Supermarket, Welcome Supermart, 680 Supermart, and Prince Warehouse, among others. (FREEMAN)