THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT HAS INCREASED ITS RICE IMPORT quota to 2.4 million metric tons this year to further boost the national stockpile of the grain, according to the National Food Authority.

The state-owned, grain-importing agency was earlier allowed to import as much as 2.1 million tons of rice to cover for the projected 10-percent shortfall in local production of the staple.

In an interview on Friday, NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro clarified that the move was to “ensure sufficient national buffer stocks this year to help stabilize prices in the domestic market.”

“Our target is to maintain a 30-day buffer stock until the end of the year,” he said.

As a matter of policy, the NFA is tasked to maintain a rice buffer equivalent to 15 days’ worth of consumption throughout the year and to double this volume to 30 days’ worth during the lean months. National daily consumption of rice is estimated at 33,000 tons.

The Inter-Agency Committee on Rice and Corn agreed to raise the import quota two weeks ago, Navarro added.

He explained that initially, the government was allowed to import 2.1 million tons of rice while the private sector was given the go-ahead to bring in 600,000 tons.

“The government took half of the allocation for the private sector since grains traders are not importing,” he noted.

In the last four rice auctions conducted for the private sector, traders continued to shun the opportunity to import duty-free rice, put off by high international prices and competition from government-subsidized sales in the domestic market.

Offers at last Friday’s tender brought the total importation by the private sector so far to only 57,290 MT, a fraction of the 363,000 tons that had been allowed by the NFA.

This is the second time that the government has raised the rice import quota for 2008.

In March, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap announced that the NFA council had given its management the authority to import up to 2.1 million tons, up from the initial plan of 1.6 million tons.

Yap explained that the increase in volume was meant to prepare the country for a “cross commodity expansion pressure that we may experience when the demand for rice continues the way it is.”

Given the price spikes of other commodities such as wheat and corn, Yap had said that the Department of Agriculture expected more Filipinos to consume more rice, in place of bread and pan de sal or corn, for example.

By increasing the import quota, Yap said the government could pump in more rice in the country’s stockpile to meet the widening demand gap.