New shipment boosts Bacolod’s rice supply

BACOLOD CITY – There will be enough rice for the first quarter of 2019 in Negros Occidental after 239,000 bags of rice from Myanmar and Vietnam arrived in the city.

National Food Authority (NFA) Provincial Manager Frisco Canoy told Manila Bulletin 160,000 bags came from Myanmar carried by the marine vessel Tan Binh 79, and 79,000 bags from Vietnam on MV Han Binh 16.

The two ships docked at the Bredco Port and the first 160,000 bags had been unloaded. Canoy said that about 20,000 bags were transferred to the agency’s warehouses in Bacolod.

The rice are of the well-milled variety and 25 percent broken. It will be sold at the standard P27 per kilo in NFA stores in the province.

Last month, 100,000 bags from Thailand arrived in Negros. Canoy said the 40,000 bags left from this supply and the additional 239,000 bags will be sufficient for the first quarter of this year.

Before the rice from Myanmar and Vietnam arrived, NFA has been distributing 140 bags at the major markets of Bacolod and 80 bags to markets outside the capital city per week.

The new stocks will be initially stored at the NFA two warehouses in Bacolod, before they are transferred to other warehouses in San Carlos City and Ilog town, Canoy said.

He said 10 more layers of bags might be added in the warehouse in Bacolod to accommodate the new bags being unloaded at the port.

Canoy said that on an average they can unload 15,000 bags a day. Unloading the entire shipment could take 15 to 16 days.