Gov’t considers shipping in 800,000 MT of rice this year

The government is looking to import 800,000 metric tons (MT) of milled rice this year to help stem rising prices and stabilize the domestic supply.

The National Food Authority (NFA)  Council believes that the volume to be imported is needed to augment local production, Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima on Tuesday told reporters.

State economic managers “see this as crucial to stabilizing prices and [reining in] inflation,” Delima explained.

The NFA has yet to make an announcement and is still not clear whether it will be the government that will purchase the entire volume.

Last December, the NFA announced the rice importation on the same day the auction was held.

The NFA that month arranged for the shipment of 500,000 MT from Vietnam, of which 200,000 MT is still to be delivered.

This means that the volume of rice to be shipped in this year may reach one million tons—the biggest yet during the Aquino administration.

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said the government would continue to import milled rice this year as the government renewed its drive toward self-sufficiency.

The importation is necessary, Alcala said, considering that the government missed its 2013 goal of attaining self-sufficiency in rice production.

Moreover, the agriculture chief said, the release of large volumes from the NFA’s stockpile in the wake of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” led to an “abnormal” situation when the biggest part of the available domestic supply fell in the hands of the private sector.