Rice prices to go down in Central Visayas

CEBU CITY–The prices of commercial rice are expected to go down in two to three weeks following the arrival of 200,000 sacks of rice from Vietnam.

MV Vina Ship Gold arrived at the Cebu International Port Monday afternoon with 10,000 metric tons of rice, forming part of the 500,000 sacks of imported rice that the National Food Authority (NFA) promised to deliver to Central Visayas.

Olma Marie Bayno, information officer of the NFA in Central Visayas (NFA-7), said it may take a while before the effects of the arrival of the imported rice will be felt.

“We have terms of reference that we follow. The responsibility of NFA will commence after the shipment is transferred to our warehouses. Right now, the unloading is still the responsibility of the supplier which is the government of Vietnam. They are still doing the paper works like in Customs but probably by Wednesday, the sacks of rice will already be transferred to NFA warehouses,” said Bayno.

Bayno admitted that prices of rice soared because of the shortage of NFA rice.

“It’s been months that we were not able to inject NFA rice in the market and because of that, prices increased because there is no competition,” said Bayno.

Bayno said the newly arrived supply of rice will be distributed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), disaster offices and retailers.

Bayno clarified that even with the arrival of imported rice, prices will not go down automatically.

“While part of the new supply will be distributed to retailers, prices will not go down right away since what is being sold in the market was bought at a higher price,” said Bayno.

Prices of NFA rice vary with 15 percent broken grains being sold at R35, while those with 25 percent broken grains going for retail at R27 per kilo.