NFA rice auction attracts 13 potential international bidders

THIRTEEN international companies participated in the pre-bid conference of the National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday for an import order covering 500,000 metric tons (MT) of long-grain white rice of the 25% broken grade.

The companies are: Asia Golden Rice Co. Ltd., Thai Hua Co. Ltd., Ponglarp Co. Ltd., Gia International Corp., Shwe Wah Yaung Agriculture Production Co., Ltd., Vietnam Northern Food Corp. (VinaFood I), Hiep Loi Joint Stock Co., Phoenix Global DMCC, Meskay & Femtee Trading Co. (Pvt.) Ltd., VinaFood 2, Tan Long Group Joint Stock Co., Olam International, and Capital Cereals Co. Ltd.

The companies are from Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Bids for this round are set to be opened on Nov. 20.

According to Angel G. Imperial, NFA spokesperson, the terms of reference (ToR) for this bidding round are the same as those of the Oct. 18 round, during which offers for only 47,000 MT of rice were accepted, out of the 250,000 MT up for auction.

Mr. Imperial said the participants all bought bid documents for P75,000 each.

Mr. Imperial said that the NFA’s priority is to ensure immediate and direct delivery to the ports designated for each lot.

The 500,000 MT of rice is divided into nine lots with 14 designated discharge ports receiving the following quantities: 118,000 MT for Subic; 75,000 MT for Manila; 65,000 MT for La Union; 40,000 MT for Batangas; 32,500 MT for General Santos City; 30,000 MT for Tabaco, Albay; 26,700 MT for Cagayan de Oro; 25,000 MT for Cebu; 20,000 MT for Iloilo; 20,000 MT for Tacloban; 17,300 for Zamboanga; 12,500 MT for Davao; 10,000 MT for Surigao; and 8,000 MT for Bacolod.

Half of the volume, or 250,000 MT, has a Dec. 31 delivery deadline, while the other half has until Jan. 31, 2019 to arrive.

Mr. Imperial said the Philippines currently has 2.16 million MT of rice classified as buffer stock, equivalent to about 34 days’ consumption, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The estimate was made on Sept. 1. It has no data yet for October.

He said he is confident inventories will rise because the harvest is ongoing, and discounted the impact of recent storms that hit northern Luzon. —