NFA opens bid for importation of 805,000 metric tons of rice
THE National Food Authority (NFA) on late Monday night opened the bidding for the importation of 805,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as part of the government’s efforts to make it available to all Filipinos and help stabilize supply and prices nationwide.
A total of 571 private corporations, cooperatives, and Farmers Organizations (FO’s) with the NFA-stamped Eligibility to Bid (ETB) participated in the bidding under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Under the importation guidelines, each company will have a volume limit of 50,000 MT for non-FO’s while a single FO can only import up to 5,000 MT.
However, “to ensure that the bidding will not be monopolized by big companies, only 80 percent of the import volume will be allocated to non-FO’s while the remaining 20 percent will be allocated to FO’s. This is equivalent to 161,000 MT for FO’s, and 644,000 MT for non-FO’s,” NFA Administrator Jason Y. Aquino said.
Of the total rice imports, 467,000 MT will be for Luzon (58 percent), 153,000 MT for Visayas (19 percent), and 185,000 MT for Mindanao (23 percent), based on the 2018 national daily consumption requirements.
Under the MAV scheme, rice traders are allowed to source from countries with a specific quota (CSQ) or from other rice-producing countries.
The bulk of the 805,200-MT rice supply will come from Thailand and Vietnam with a maximum volume of 293,100 MT each.
China, India and Pakistan are given 50,000-MT limit each, followed by Australia with 15,000 MT, and El Salvador with 4,000 MT.
Importation from rice producing countries was limited to 50,000 MT.
According to the NFA, the schedule of arrival of the rice imports, which is divided in two phases, will be during the lean months so as not to affect the buying price of local palay among local traders.
“First phase will start arriving in July until August 31, 2018, while the second phase will start on December 20, 2018 until February 28, 2019,” Aquino said.
Last year, 805,200 MT of rice was approved for importation under the MAV but only 746,962 MT were allocated. EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ
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