NFA rice gone? Gov’t, retailers disagree
Malacañang yesterday advised the public not to panic over the rice supply in the country, following reports that the inventory of the National Food Authority (NFA) has been totally depleted.
Reports about the NFA running out of rice surfaced anew yesterday, days after the NFA Council recommended an audit of the operations of the grains agency.
Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra, however, insisted that the country has “more than sufficient” supply of
the Filipino meal staple.
“We all know that the stocks of the NFA are running low but the overall rice supply is more than sufficient with plenty to spare. No need to panic,” Guevarra said in a text message.
The Palace official said the government would continue to monitor the activities of rice traders to prevent the manipulation of rice prices.
“An unusual rise in price despite more than adequate supplies could only be the result of manipulation. The government will monitor rice traders very closely,” he said.
Adjusting the importation schedule of the NFA is also unnecessary, according to Guevarra.
“There is no shortage so the same importation schedule will be followed,” he said.
Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) Assistant Secretary Jonas Soriano noted that the NFA only constitutes four to five percent of the rice supply in the market. The OCS oversees the NFA.
Soriano also questioned claims that the NFA’s rice supply has been wiped out, saying the grains agency sold a lot of rice during the Christmas season.
“We noticed in the NFA report that in October, November and December, they sold a lot of rice. It was harvest season, so why sell lots of rice during Christmas season? During the lean season when there was not much rice, they did not sell a lot. So, where’s the logic?” he said.
Soriano reiterated the need to conduct an “independent audit” of the operations of the NFA management since President Duterte assumed office in 2016. He said such audit would detect patterns and enable agencies to craft policies to ensure that farmers and consumers are protected.
“It is important that we improve on how management procures rice,” Soriano said. “We’ll make sure that rice would be available, even the NFA rice.”
The NFA Council has allowed the agency to import 250,000 metric tons of rice to increase its buffer stock. The NFA is required to have buffer stock good for at least 15 days during harvest season and at least 30 days during the lean months of July to September.
‘Wipe out expected’
The country’s retailers are not exactly surprised about cheap rice from the NFA totally running out of stock, as this has been the expected scenario even at the start of the year.
The Grains Retailers’ Confederation of the Philippines Inc. (GRECON) said it is not surprising that the NFA’s rice reserve is completely gone and that no NFA rice can be found in the market.
“That has been long been overdue. In the board meeting we had last February, we already expected this might happen and that is precisely the reason why we have been requesting the NFA Council to approve the importation immediately,” GRECON national president Jaime Magbanua told The STAR.
“(In) the whole of Luzon, even in Cebu and parts of Mindanao that are part of our group, there are no more stocks and no rice distribution of NFA,” he said.
This is the first time in the last four decades that the government has totally run out of subsidized rice.
Even before the end of 2017, the NFA has been pushing for the importation of the 250,000 metric tons to serve as buffer stock but the interagency NFA Council deferred the decision several times.
“We already know that that will run out eventually. But unfortunately, they insisted on still prolonging it until June,” Magbanua said, referring to the expected arrival of the importation which was officially approved just last month.
“Now, we are feeling the effect and that is the real truth. We and the NFA have been asking for that from the start but they did not approve,” he added.
The group, however, maintained there is no rice shortage in the country as only the cheap NFA rice has been depleted.
“The only problem is that we do not have the subsidized rice for about eight percent of the population who consume it. They should have known better,” Magbanua said.
About six to eight percent or the poorest sector of the population depends on NFA rice which serves as the price stabilizer to avoid jacking up of prices of commercial rice and even premium rice.
But early this year, following NFA’s low inventory, the agency decided to recalibrate distribution because its primary focus is still to serve as buffer stock for calamities and in island provinces of the Philippines.
This resulted in the lack of supply in the major markets, prompting ordinary Filipinos to buy commercial rice which is priced higher, from P45 to P60 per kilogram compared to the P27 to P32/ kg of the NFA.
Before the end of March, President Duterte ordered the fast-tracking of the importation to ensure immediate stability of market prices of the country’s main staple.