NFA fails to secure suppliers for first of 3 import bidding

The National Food Authority (NFA) has failed to secure suppliers for most of the first 250,000 metric tons (MT) of rice it is importing for the remainder of the year.

To recall, the state-run grains agency is still hoping to import as much as 750,000 MT of rice for this year. This will be done in three bidding processes supposedly in two weeks interval.

On Thursday, the NFA conducted the bidding for the purchase and supply of the first 250,000 MT of imported rice, which will be done through an open tender scheme.

However, of the 20 companies that joined the bidding, only three companies could possibly secure import contracts from the NFA. These are Thai Capital Crops Company Limited, Vietnam Northern Food Corp. (VINAFOOD 1), and Vietnam Southern Food Corp. (VINAFOOD 2).

These companies, which all met NFA's reference price of US$428.18 per ton, were allowed to supply the Philippines as much as 47,000 MT of rice.

"We have to report to the NFA council to address this. We need rice and we need to act immediately," NFA Deputy Administrator Judy Dansal said in an interview with reporters.

"We will have to rebid for the remaining volume. It is not a failed bidding. It’s just that not all the volume were taken," she added.

The NFA is set to publish a new Terms of Reference (TOR) for the said re-bidding.

In an unrelated development, the Department of Agriculture (DA) already set a suggested retail price for rice.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that for wellmilled rice, the SRP will be 144 per kilogram, while the SRP for regular-milled rice should be 139 per kilogram and below.

The imposition of SRPs aim to protect consumers from overpricing in the market.