NFA bidding out milled rice supply deal

The National Food Authority is rebidding Tuesday a contract for the importation of 100,000 tons of milled rice as the Philippines is expected to remain among the world’s top rice importers in 2016.

This volume formed part of the 250,000 tons programmed for importation in the third quarter.

In a government-to-government auction held at NFA headquarters last week, the NFA awarded a contract for only 150,000 tons worth $61.5 million to Vietnam Southern Food Corp.

Offers for the remaining 100,000 tons went above the NFA budget so the NFA decided to reject the bids and hold another bidding Tuesday for the remainder of the requirement.

Joseph dela Cruz, chair of the bidding committee, said the latest importation was expected to be delivered by July 15.

In the meantime, Economic Research Service, a unit of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ERS), said the Philippines was expected to outsource between a million and 2 million tons of the staple grain next year.

The forecast import volume is the same as those of the European Union, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and South Africa.

In an earlier forecast, the USDA-ERS penciled in 1.7 million tons for the Philippines’ importation this year.

“Trade in 2016 (forecast at 42.5 million tons worldwide) would be the third largest on record,” the American agency said. “China is projected to remain the number one rice-importing country, taking a record 4.7 million tons of rice in 2016, up 7 percent from 2015, despite a record crop.”

In the Philippines, the stock of milled rice rose for the second month in a row, hitting 3.17 million tons as of May 1, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).