CEBU, Philippines — Additional rice imports for Central Visayas are expected to arrive in October.
While the National Food Authority said there is enough supply of the government-subsidized rice in the region, distribution remains a challenge, said assistant regional head Diocano Alojado Jr.
He said during a recent price coordinating council meeting that the region needs more NFA retail outlets.
NFA has seven warehouses in Region 7 with 533,000 bags of rice in its latest inventory.
Additional 120,000 bags of rice are expected to be unloaded this week.
Another 240,000 bags of imported rice are also scheduled to arrive next month.
NFA rice sold in accredited stores in public markets are sold at P27 and P32 per kilo and only at a maximum of five kilos per purchase.
Early this month, the NFA Council (NFAC), the agency’s policy-making body, had approved the additional importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice to beef up the current NFA stocks.
In a Sept. 4 meeting, the council had instructed the NFA to hold an open tender immediately for the importation of the additional rice stocks to arrive in November 2018.
This developed amid the rising prices of the Filipino staple in the market.
The additional importation can increase NFA’s active participation in the market by as much as 20%. (FREEMAN)