DTI mulls rice importation
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is looking at importing rice to help augment supply of the National Food Authority (NFA) and stabilize rice prices.
DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said the agency is looking at a rice importation of 150,000 metric tons or 3 million bags through the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), the trading arm of DTI. Each bag weighs 50 kilograms.
Castelo, however, said they still need the approval of the NFA Council if they would be allowed to import rice. She also clarified that they will not be engaged in selling the grain, only import to help NFA augment its stock.
“If PITC is done with their computations this week, we can make presentation to the NFA Council to seek for approval for the importation,” Castelo said without divulging the cost of the rice importation.
San Miguel’s intent San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. (SMFB), a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation expressed interest to import rice once Congress enacts a law that will liberalize the entry of the staple into the country.
“We are waiting for the law that will allow us to import rice. We can offer this to the government. We can help the government,” SMC President Ramon S. Ang said in an interview.
“The intention is to help food security of the country and help local farmers and supply consumers with reliable and good quality rice at a low price,” said Ang noting that the import tax for rice can be used by the government to subsidize farmers.
He said they are already talking to possible suppliers for bulk importation of milled and unmilled rice noting that SMFB has a large capacity to handle these.
Ang said they have a grains terminal in Mabini, Batangas and the company is putting up a much bigger facility in Mariveles, Bataan as well as in Pangasinan.
“We also have large feed mills and silos in Davao, Iloilo, Negros Oriental, Mandaue in Cebu, Mariveles in Bataan, Mabini in Batangas, as well as Sariaya in Quezon. We are very big,” said Ang.
He said “each grain terminal can usually handle 3 to 4 million tons of grain per year for our feeds and flour mills. If you have 10 of that, that will be more than enough to meet demand for rice.”
Ang also noted that rice stored in their silos will remain fresh and last longer since these have proper aeration and are temperature controlled to prevent them from spoiling.
“We will help in this business. If there is a law that will allow us to, we can quickly do it,” he said, adding they can also help rice farmers if they put up facilities to buy local unmilled rice.
Steady prices
Meantime, Castelo said there has been no increase in the new suggested retail price (SRP) on basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC) since the release of the list on September 1.
Castelo, DTI Undersecretary for consumer welfare group, announced that manufacturers have remained committed to hold off any price hikes for three months or until Dec. 1 this year.
“We thank the manufacturers for agreeing to hold off any price increase of manufactured BNPCs for three months. They will have to submit new data and justifications to DTI for new increases by the end of the 3-month period before any change in retail prices in the market.”
Castelo said that all first wave increases in June and July 2018 were two canned sardines, one corned beef, one evaporated milk, one detergent bar, and one toilet soap.
The new price list which took effect September 1 now includes the Visayas and Mindanao SRPs for Fidel iodized salt while a total of seven Shelf Keeping Units (SKUs) of canned sardines, evaporated milk, corned beef, detergent soap, and toilet soap.
“The DTI thoroughly reviewed the new SRPs and made sure that there is basis for the changes. All commodities with adjusted SRPs have not changed their prices in years,” explained Castelo.