CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The National Food Authority (NFA) is set to import 1.3 million metric tons (MMT) of rice this year, according to NFA Administrator Renan B. Dalisay who visited the NFA-Pampanga office here on Thursday.
“The importation will be between 1.3 MMT to 1.5 MMT based on our assessment,” Dalisay said.
He explained the importation is expected to meet the annual local consumption of about 12.5 MMT of rice. He added that the NFA needs to have 14 MMT of rice in 2015, including at least 1.5 MMT as “buffer” supply.
Dalisay stressed that the Aquino administration had “only” shipped in some 4 MMT of rice from 2010 to 2014. He added that from 2004 to 2010, the Arroyo government bought some 12 MMT of rice, mostly coming from Vietnam and Thailand.
That’s only about 23 percent compared to the importation of the previous [Estrada] administration, according to Dalisay.
Saying his marching orders is to stabilize the prices of rice, Dalisay said “the only way to do it is to ensure there is enough production.” “We have to be sure that the rice supplies are distributed well in the entire country.”
Dalisay claims the NFA had successfully stabilized rice prices because “we can see many fancy rice varieties cost less than P40 per kilo.”
The NFA, as of July 23, has a national inventory recorded at 15,503,242 bags, or 775,165 metric tons, which can last for 25 days based on the national daily consumption requirement.
NFA-Pampanga Manager Elvira Obana showed to Dalisay the two warehouses of the NFA main office in Pampanga. He was impressed when informed by Obana that they have “30 days of buffer supply.”
“We are required to have at least 15 days of buffer supply. We can supply Metro Manila in case a strong earthquake will happen there,” Obana said.