GOV’T BIDS OUT 500,000 MT RICE;
RESERVES GOOD FOR 4 MONTHS
By Manny Piñol
The National Food Authority (NFA) yesterday successfully bidded out the supply of 500,000-metric tons of imported rice, effectively implementing President Rody Duterte’s directive that government should “fill its warehouses to the roofs” with rice stocks to prevent a repeat of the recent artificial “rice shortage.”
The latest procurement of imported rice brought to 547,000 metric tons the total volume of NFA rice stocks which will be available in the market until early next year.
Another 203,000-metric tons will be bid out this week on a government-to-government procurement scheme.
Should the bidding succeed, the NFA will have a total of 750,000-metric tons of government-subsidized rice which will be sold in the market at P27 to P32.
Five private companies were awarded the contract to supply the rice after they submitted bids lower than the government reference price of $470 per metric ton.
The winning bidders were: Thai Capital Crops Co. Ltd, Myanmar’s Shwe Wah Yaung Agriculture Production Co., Singapore’s Olam International Ltd, Thailand’s Asia Golden Rice Co Ltd, and Vietnam’s Tan Long Group Joint Stock Co.
The suppliers will be asked to deliver the rice stocks to the different regions of the country starting December up to early January.
The successful bidding yesterday assured the country of
sufficient buffer stocks even with the estimated 480,000 metric tons of local rice production lost due to the successive typhoons which hit the northern part of the country over the last three months.
The NFA submitted these results of the bidding yesterday:
– Thai Capital Crops was awarded a lot amounting to 45,000 metric tons for delivery to General Santos and Davao, after it bid $439.75 per MT.
– Olam International was awarded 65,000 MT for delivery to La Union after bidding $429.80 per MT. It also won a lot of 40,000 MT for delivery to Batangas after bidding $425.80 per MT; 30,000 MT for delivery to Tabaco, Albay following a bid of $432.10 per MT; and 75,000 MT for delivery to Manila after bidding $434 per MT.
– Tan Long Group was awarded a lot of 118,000 MT for delivery to Subic at $459 per MT.
– Asia Golden Rice was awarded a lot of 54,000 MT for delivery to Cebu and Tacloban at $458 per MT; and a further 54,000 MT for delivery to Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Surigao at $439.75 per MT.
– Shwe Wah was awarded a lot of 28,000 MT for delivery to Iloilo and Bacolod after bidding $418.65 per MT.
The efficient and transparent bidding of the NFA rice supplies assures that consumers that the recent “rice price crisis” resulting from depleted NFA rice stocks will not be repeated.
Earlier this year, NFA rice supplies disappeared in the market after a dispute between the former NFA Administrator and the NFA Council over the mode of importation to be used in buying rice.
The NFA uses two procurement modes – Government to Private and Government to Government.
In my first meeting with the NFA Council after the agency was returned back to the DA, I told the Council members that the order of President Duterte was to bring in the rice supplies fast in whatever manner.
I am glad that the NFA Council responded positively.
(Photo of NFA stocks being unloaded from a vessel downloaded from a public website.)
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