NFA-7 Chief: Price of Rice Remains Normal

● While NFA maintains a P27 per kilo, commercial rice have different price range: from P40 up to P60 per kilo, NFA says.

The National Food Authority(NFA)-7 on Tuesday said the price of NFA rice in Central Visayas remains normal.

NFA7 Regional Director Danilo Bonabon during the AGIO Forum said the NFA maintains the price of their rice at P27 per kilo.

However, he said that prices of this commodity may vary.

“When we talk about commercial rice, consider the fact that said commodity is usually supplied by various suppliers from Manila”, Bonabon explained.

While the NFA maintains a P27 per kilo price, commercial rice have different price range of P40 up to P60 per kilo, Bonabon said.

On the recent report that there is a P2 to P3 increase of rice in Manila and other parts of the country, Bonabon considered this information as “not alarming”.

“Para sa amin na taga NFA, we considered the situation of rice pricing here in Central Visayas as normal”, Bonabon said.

The regional chief, however, admitted that as of this time, rice supply in this part of the country are only 33 percent of the overall rice consumption of the whole population in Central Visayas.

While the 67 percent of the region’s rice needs are usually supplied by grains businessmen from Manila, Bohol province, which has a big rice land areas among the four provinces in Central Visayas, is considered as “self-supporting,” Bonabon said.

He also said that if Bohol can support the rice consumption of the Boholanos, Cebuanos have its alternative foods:the corn grits.

Bonabon said that corn grits are famous in Cebu and it helps a lot in supporting the regular daily meals of Cebuanos. Bonabon stressed that because of this situation, the rice governing board is anticipating for the arrival of the 800,000 metric tons of rice they imported from Vietnam. Bonabon said that this serves as a buffer stock while the country is waiting for the harvest season.

The rice governing board were composed of government agencies namely: the NFA, Department of Agriculture (DA) National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astrological Services Administration (PAGASA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST),and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Bonabon also added that the incoming stocks of rice are also in anticipation of the El Niño phenomenon that is expected to hit the country few months from now.