NFA rice rolls out next week
Credit to Author: Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas| Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is expected to roll out rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) by next week.
On Feb. 4, the country was placed under a food security emergency as measures set in place to pull down rice prices have failed.
With the declaration of a food security emergency, the NFA can start selling its rice stocks.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., in a press briefing at Malacañang, said more than 50 local government units (LGUs) across the country have signified their interest to procure rice from the NFA.
The NFA will sell the rice stocks at P33 per kilo while the LGUs can resell the staple at P35 per kilo.
Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel said the NFA may recommend the increase in tariff on imported rice once the price of the staple drops to P42 to P45 per kilo.
“We can review, recommend for restoration, or maybe not fully restore – it can be from 15 to 20 (percent) or 15 to 25 or full 35, depending on the situation. Depending on the consultations with everybody,” Tiu Laurel said.
Executive Order 62, issued by President Marcos in June last year, lowered the tariff on imported rice from 35 percent to 15 percent until 2028.
He said the government has to maintain the lower tariffs “until the rice price drops to a certain level.”
“It (reduction on tariff) seems to be working as (prices of rice) are going down,” Tiu Laurel said.
The levy on rice, which covers both in-quota and out-quota rates, is subject to review every four months based on the EO.
Tiu Laurel said he proposed to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan to conduct the review every six months.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, the country’s rice inventory rose by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 2.16 million metric tons from the 2.03 million MT recorded volume in the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority said yesterday.
PSA data showed that the increase in rice inventory during the reference period was brought about by higher stocks recorded in NFA warehouses and commercial entities.
However, the country’s rice stocks fell by 15.7 percent on a monthly basis from the 2.56 million MT recorded inventory in December 2024, according to the agency.
“Of this month’s total rice stocks, 48.9 percent were from the households, 37.9 percent were from the commercial sector and 13.2 percent were from the NFA depositories,” the PSA said.
Rice stocks in households reached 1.05 million MT while those held by NFA and commercial warehouses reached 144,050 MT and 816,510 MT, respectively, based on PSA data.
“This month’s rice stock inventories registered annual increases from the NFA depositories by 485.1 percent and from the households by 5.4 percent. On the other hand, an annual decrease was noted from the commercial sector by 16.5 percent,” the PSA said.
“In comparison to the December 2024 rice stocks levels, increments were noted from the NFA depositories by 97.7 percent, and in the households by 17.4 percent. Meanwhile, rice stocks inventory from the commercial sector decreased by 46.1 percent,” the PSA added.
In the same report, the PSA said the country’s total corn stocks reached 328,400 MT as of Jan. 1, about 45 percent lower than the 597,620 MT recorded inventory in the same month of last year.
“Corn stocks inventory exhibited a month-on-month decrease of 40.1 percent relative to its previous month’s inventory level of 548.31 thousand metric tons,” it noted.
Corn stocks in both households and commercial entities dropped during the reference period, the PSA said. Additionally, 83.1 percent of the latest corn stocks were in the commercial sector while the remaining 16.9 percent were from the households.
Corn inventory of commercial entities stood at 272,890 MT while those in households reached 55,500 MT, based on PSA data.
“From the same month of the previous year’s level, corn stocks inventory recorded annual decreases from the commercial sector by 49.5 percent and from the households by 2.7 percent,” the PSA said.
“Relative to the inventory level in December 2024, decreases in the volume of corn stocks were noted from the commercial sector by 43.4 percent and from the households by 16.2 percent,” the agency added.
Meanwhile, a maximum suggested retail price (SRP) for pork could be released within the month, Tiu Laurel said.
“We’re currently studying that and digging deep on the entire value chain of pork to find out whether or not there’s really profiteering. If we identified that there is profiteering, then definitely we will be doing an MSRP also for pork,” he explained.