NFA-8 ready to flood market with cheaper rice
PALO, Leyte — The National Food Authority is ready to flood the market with over 2.6 million bags of government rice this year to avert possible rice price manipulations especially during off harvest seasons.
NFA regional manager Benjamin B. Marta said that they will intensify their presence in the market if there will be unusual price adjustments of staple food.
“Right now the P34 to P35 per kilogram modal price of well-milled rice is reasonable. The price and supply in the region has been stable,” Marta told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, according to news reports, had said that the current increases in rice are “reasonable” and expected right after the harvest.
As of last week, NFA warehouses throughout the region has a total stock of 450,000 bags of rice with the bulk of it in Leyte at 235,907 bags.
The grains agency expects a shipment of nearly 90,000 bags this week in major seaports. For 2010, the region has an allocation of 2,390 bags of rice.
It will be augmented with the 2009 undelivered rice allocation of over 300,000 bags coming from National Capital Region, Western Visayas, and Bicol region.
“There’s no cause for panic. The shipment of rice is successive for Region 8. There is also much that will be procured,” the official said.
From the current 15 market participation share, the food agency, he said, can go up to 22% if in case there will be shortage and unusual rice price hike. The NFA records an average sale of 9,000 bags daily through Tindahan Natin Outlets, and other accredited stores.
“The allocation for each province will mainly depend on the situation,” Marta added.
During the wake of 2008 “rice crisis,” NFA was allowed to go as high as 30% market share participation.
He recalled the problem in 2008 wherein traders hiked prices of staple food but it has been stabilized when the NFA regional office increased market participation from 11% to 30%.
“Traders were forced to bring down the price because nobody would buy from them if it’s expensive,” he added.
Marta said that this was an effective strategy to stabilize the price of the basic staple food in the wake of the spiraling commercial rice prices in the region last year.
“Retailers tend to bring down the price of commercial grains with varieties of government rice flooding the market. We are ready to increase our rice allocation that would lead to less people buying staple food from private traders,” Marta added.
The region has 18 state-run warehouses with a capacity to keep 920,000 bags of staple food.
The NFA has warehouses in Borongan, Eastern Samar; Catbalogan, Samar; Maasin City in Southern Leyte and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, among other places.
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