NFA denies rice shortage

by Lyndon Santos

July 10, the price of well milled rice started to rise from P30 to P32 per kilo. The National Food Authority (NFA) said there is no shortage in the supply of rice, despite the augmenting prices.

Rice retailers in Kamuning stressed a sack of well milled rice is now at P1,700 that is P50-P100 higher than past few weeks. Retailers credited the rice-price hike to higher farm gate prices and an observed tension in rice supply. They also claimed that suppliers are not able to satisfy their requirement.


However, the NFA believed the situation remains normal, noticing that July is a spare month and rice prices are expected to slightly move.
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The NFA stated there will be a monitoring if rice prices will continue to rise within the month. If mid-priced rice (P30-32/K) will end, the NFA may intervene by releasing buffer stocks.

The NFA guaranteed they have 616,000 MT of buffer stocks which is good for 21 days. They noted that the P27-P28 per kilo iron fortified NFA rice is still available and may serve as an alternative for consumers.