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THE Philippines plans to buy a smaller volume of rice from abroad
next year, as state-run National Food Authority (NFA) is expected to
purchase the bulk of the country’s requirements from local
farmers.
Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul Jr. said
the country would import only 1.5 million metric tons of rice next
year from 2.3 million metric tons this year due to the good harvest
of the staple in the domestic market.
The Finance department raised its projection on
the Food bureau’s net loss this year to P72 billion from the
previous P43 billion due to high cost and higher volume of rice
importation.
During the first semester, the country suffered
from the rapid rise in international price of rice, which had
breached the $1,000-a-metric-ton mark.
But since the start of the second half, rice
prices in the world market have eased and are expected to decline
further due to lower demand amid the global economic slowdown and
good harvest in rice producing countries.
Rex Estoperez, NFA spokesperson said the total
cost of rice imports reached P80 billion, which is equivalent to 2.3
million metric tons.
The government allotted P17 billion for local
rice procurement this year. NFA has a buffer stock of 970,000 metric
tons, which is good for 28 days.
The Philippines remains the world’s largest
rice importer.
The Food bureau has so far bought 295,185 metric
tons of palay from local farmers, or a third of its target for this
year.
Its buying price for palay, which has risen to
P17 a kilo, has helped push rice’s traded price in the market to
P14 to P15 a kilo from P9 to P12 a kilo.
The Food bureau said it aims to offer the P17 a
kilo price to farmers who can produce rice at a higher quality
moisture of 14 percent.
-- Chino S. Leyco
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