No plan to hike rice prices - NFA

MANILA, Philippines - The National Food Authority (NFA) has no plans to increase the price of rice this holiday season, NFA Administrator Angelito T. Banayo said yesterday.

Banayo gave this assurance during the year-end Food and Agri Business Conference entitled “The Business of Food & Agriculture: Where is it Headed?” held yesterday at the PLDT Hall of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P).

Banayo said the NFA does not need to increase its prices because it would put additional burden on the masses or to the class D and E communities who buy NFA rice because of its low price.

The NFA Road Map, as part of the Agriculture Department’s Food Staple Self-Sufficiency Program which aims to achieve no rice imports by 2013, recommends that the retail price of rice be adjusted upwards each year to conform with market realities.

Banayo said that given the volatile prices of other commodities, he sought President Aquino’s guidance on the matter of further increasing the NFA release prices, and the President decided not to increase prices of NFA rice.

According to Banayo, NFA would still have enough supply of rice during the holidays, hence, an increase in the price of rice is not necessary at this time.

Despite the series of typhoons that hit the country in the third quarter and the lower import level of only 860,000 metric tons this year, the NFA still has enough stocks for the holiday season.

For next year, the NFA Council has opted to control rice imports at an initial 500,000 MT, but is open to possible additional imports depending on actual rice production.