MANILA, Philippines—The grains agency National Food Authority (NFA) has spent at least P70 billion to import as much as 2.4 million metric tons of rice to ensure sufficient rice stocks for the year, NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro said.

The average weighted price of rice for this year’s procurement is estimated at $740 a metric ton, Navarro said.

Last year, the Philippines imported 1.79 million tons of rice for $494 million.

Navarro said the NFA could post P30 billion in deficit this year, compared with earlier government estimates of as much as P43 billion.

The Department of Finance’s latest estimate puts the NFA 2008 deficit at P35.8 billion, after the NFA took steps to address its financial problems.

In June, the NFA borrowed P8 billion particularly for more rice importation and payment of maturing obligations.

Navarro said meanwhile that with the rice stocks in place the government might no longer import rice for the remainder of 2008. He said the NFA was expected to end the year with at least a 28-day buffer stockpile.

As a policy, the NFA maintains at any given time a rice inventory equivalent to 15 days’ worth of national consumption. National daily consumption is estimated at 33,100 tons. A 30-day buffer stock is required during the lean months, from July to September.

The national stockpile, which includes household and commercial stocks, may even rise to as much as 60-90 days’ worth of consumption, Navarro said.

“The lean months are about to end and we’re nearing the peak of harvests in October and November, so we will concentrate more of our efforts in local ‘palay’ [paddy rice] buying,” he said.

With the standing order to procure one million metric tons of palay from farmers, Navarro said, the NFA could push further the volume to two million metric tons, as Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said earlier this week. Edited by INQUIRER.net