Gov’t opens unused rice import quota to interested parties

The government has declared open to interested parties on a first-come first-served basis the rice import allocation which has not been availed of by farmer organizations in the first and second quarter tranches.

Involved is a total of 85,000 metric tons of rice which had allocated for other sectors, excluding rice-based farmer organizations. The payment of letters of credit or advanced payment of duties will be the basis of determining the first-come first-served rule.

For the third tranche, however, the volume involves 177,000 metric tons and is exclusively allocated to rice-based farmer organizations.

Any farmer organization, entity or individual intending to import rice must first secure a rice import license from the National Food Authority.

The third tranche, according to the NFA, should arrive on or before Aug. 31, 2003. Arrivals beyond the date set shall be subjected to a penalty of 50 percent of the landed cost of rice cargo.

Half of the amount to be collected from the penalty, according to Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo, will be set aside in behalf of the bureau as partial payment to be applied to NFA’s outstanding account.

The 50-percent penalty may also be effected with the withholding or forfeiture of the corresponding percentage of the imported rice.

The ports of discharge for the third tranche of rice importation, Bernardo said, are the Port of Manila, the Manila International Container, and the Ports of Batangas, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.