NFA’s palay purchases exceed goal

The National Food Authority bought a total of 5.54 million bags of palay from January to June 16, exceeding its palay procurement target of 3.92 million bags for the period by 41 percent.

In a statement, the NFA said it surpassed its goal “for the first time in 40 years” as it went on intensive palay procurement nationwide.

Still, procurement volume as of mid-June was only 45 percent of the full-year target of 12.32 million bags or 615,985 metric tons.

NFA Administrator Orlan A. Calayag said that at the onset of the rainy season, the agency had a sufficient supply of milled rice, which could ensure stable supply and price of the staple.

Calayag said that as of last week, the NFA has 13,108,995 bags in its warehouses, which were good for at least 21 days, including 9,558,250 bags of palay.”

The NFA has a standing agreement with local government units, where the state agency provides LGUs hit by calamities rice loans for relief operations.

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the country had enough domestic supply of rice and corn, well before the government’s goal of achieving self-sufficiency sometime after this year.

“Today, the Philippines is practically self-sufficient in rice and corn,” Alcala was quoted in a statement as saying during the 38th session of the Food and Agriculture Organization Conference in Italy.

Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed that the nation’s total milled rice inventory as of May 1 was 2.61 million, up by 12.3 percent from the previous month’s stock level but down 2.2 percent year-on-year.

As of May 1, the rice inventory was good to last for 77 days. This includes 35 days’ worth of household stocks, 24 days’ worth of inventory in commercial warehouses, and 18 days’ worth of stocks held by the NFA.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the Philippines remains set for a record rice harvest in the crop year that runs up to the end of July 2014.

In its June rice outlook report, the USDA ERS said Philippine harvest was expected to increase by 3 percent year-on-year to 11.7 million tons of milled rice during the 2013-2014 market year.