Emmanuel Piñol: No rice shortage; supply good for 8 months

MANILA, Philippines — Local consumers are assured that there will be no shortage of cheap rice at the onset of the New Year after the government maintained that supply of subsidized rice is good for the next eight months.

Agriculture Secretary and National Food Authority Council chairman Emmanuel Piñol said the P27 per kilo rice being sold by NFA will last until September 2019 following the arrival of imported rice during the last quarter of the year.

“There will be no repeat of this year’s mistake when the NFA rice stocks sold at P27 in the market were depleted because of delayed importation resulting in speculation, which sent rice prices soaring,” he said.

Instructed by President Duterte to flood the market and in preparation for lean months and any possible calamity, NFA has established a stock inventory of 750,000 metric tons of imported rice to ensure an eight-month supply at 10 percent market participation.

This after several batches of bidding happened starting October coupled with the procurement of local palay at a higher price.

“The approval by the NFA Council of the importation before the end of the year has assured that the market will not see a repeat of what happened earlier this year,” Piñol said.

By the end of the year, the Philippines will have a 134-day buffer stock of rice in the warehouses of both the NFA and private traders, and in household storage facilities.

The country currently produces 93 percent of the national rice requirement and this is expected to increase to up to 95 percent once the tariffication law is enacted.

At the start of 2018, prices of commercial rice started to rise, reaching a high of P60 per kilo in the middle of the year after NFA itself announced that its stocks had been wiped out.

NFA rice, which is bought by at least 10 percent of the Filipino population, serves as stabilizer to avoid jacking up of prices of commercial rice in the market.

The conflict resulted from the disagreement of then NFA Council head Leoncio Evasco and the NFA management as to the timing and mode of procurement.

“By the time the NFA imported rice arrived, prices in the market had already reached the P60 per kilo level,” Piñol said.

With the return of the NFA to the DA, the NFA Council implemented suggested retail price, which set a cap on the prices of rice.

Duterte also issued an executive order easing the process for importation, which allowed the faster entry of imported rice, thereby stabilizing price and supply in the markets.