NFA to import additional rice

The National Food Authority plans to bring in from between 200,000 to 300,000 metric tons of imported rice between June and July this year on top of the 300,000-ton rice importation already in the pipeline.

Of the 200,000 to 300,000 tons only 95,000 tons will be purchased via a public tender. The rest will be through government-to-government transactions. The NFA has scheduled a bidding for the supply of the 95,000 tons next week.

NFA deputy administrator Gregorio Tan told The STAR that the volume of additional imports was arrived at after the inter-agency committee on rice and corn (IAC) reviewed the April crop survey by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) which revealed that available rice stocks for the January to June 2000 period will not allow the country to have a comfortable rice buffer by the start of the lean apply period from July to September.

Data from the BAS show that the country will be 14 days short of the ideal 90-day rice buffer stock level b July 1 this year. Since the country consumes an average of 23,000 tons of rice a day, the difference translate to around 322,000 metric tons.

Rice supply during the January to June period is expected to reach 1.747 million tons, given a 2.255 million tons beginning rice inventory, 290,000 tons in rice imports already transacted, and a production of 3.288 million tons. With demand for the period expected to reach 4.186 million tons, this will mean a June 30 ending rice inventory or July 1 beginning inventory of 1.747 million tons which his good for 76 days supply, or 14 days short of the ideal 90-day buffer level.

The NFA has already brought in around 190,000 tons of imported rice, of which 59,000 tons came from the United States through a commodity loan. The balance of 131,000 tons was the country's minimum access import volume (MAV) commitment under the GATT Uruguay Round agreement and the purchase was made via a public tender.

The agency is also sourcing 100,000 tons of imported rice from the Philippines International Trading Corp (PITC) which has yet to finalize a countertrade agreement with Thailand on the matter. "We've already informed PITC as to our rice specifications and it is now up to them to finalize the deal," Tan said.

NFA plans to source the 200,000 to 300,000 tons of additional rice imports from traditional sources like Vietnam, Thailand and China.

However, most of it will be secured via government-to-government deals. Tan explained that this will avoid sudden increases in world rice that could result from the huge purchases that the Philippine government will make.

Tan expects the first 95,000 tons to arrive in June and the balance to be purchased up to July, together with the 100,000 tons that will come from PITC. "We will be reviewing our rice prices from time to time to see how much we exactly need," the official said.