Private traders likely to do rice importation

After the Office of the President approved the request of National Food Authority (NFA) to purchase imported rice, there is now a possibility for NFA Council to also allow importation but only through government-to-private (G2P) scheme for a more transparent bidding process.

To recall, NFA Council — the policymaking body that has the final say on importation — earlier rejected the request of the state-run grains agency to use its standby authority to import 250,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to replenish its buffer stocks.

As it runs out of supply, the agency proceeded to stop supplying NFA rice nationwide, now forcing Filipinos to buy commercial rice, which is normally more expensive. Priority is now given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other relief agencies of the government.

It is estimated that there are about 6 to 10 million Filipinos who buy NFA rice.

To calm the public, government agencies like National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Department of Agriculture (DA) both said that there is no rice shortage in the country and that there is no need for additional imported rice.

This did not stop NFA, with NFA Administrator Jason Aquino saying on Wednesday that the agency still has to replenish its stocks to stabilize the price in the market.

On Thursday, Aquino may have finally got what he wanted, with the President himself approving his importation plans.

"The request of NFA for 250,000 MT replenishment of our buffer stocks has been approved yesterday by the Office of the President," Aquino said.

However, a source from NFA said that even if the OP already approved it, the decision still has to go through the NFA Council, which is set to meet on Monday.

The source said that NFA Council may likely suggest the importation to happen via open tender scheme, not through the traditional government-togovernment (G2G) scheme, which is a faster process.

"There is a chance that they [NFA Council] will push for open tender scheme. That's what they wanted us to do before. It's fine with us but it's a longer process," the source said.

The selling price of NFA now rice ranges from R27 to R32 per kilo, while commercial rice sells between R45 to R60 per kilo.

The NFA needs to bring in the imported rice to stabilize the price of the market. But sources said it takes about 45 days from award of contract to ship the rice to the country,

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is convinced that if the government will step in to put a price cap on the price of rice, it will partly, if not fully, solved the problem on rice.

"Filipino consumers are being robbed in broad daylight by rice traders who have taken advantage of the lack of government subsidized rice distributed by the NFA in the market by pricing commercial rice almost beyond the reach of the poor," Piñol said.

"Pricing rice at R45 per kilo is cheating on the consumers," while selling it at R60 per kilo is a brazen daylight robbery," he added.

He said the biggest problem in the rice industry in the country now is the fact that rice trading is controlled by big businessmen who finance the planting, buys the paddy rice, mills the rice and sells the rice in the market through their dealers.

They control the farm-to-market chain of the rice industry and make more money than the farmers who toil in and till the fields, he added. (MBM)