Wrong timing!

LATE ARRIVAL OF RICE IMPORTS

THREATEN FARMGATE PRICES

By Manny Piñol

The farm gate price of locally produced paddy rice which went up to an unprecedented level today could fall drastically this harvest season because of the delay in the arrival of rice supplies from Vietnam and Thailand imported by both the National Food Authority (NFA) and the private sector under the Minimum Access Volume.

As the prospect of imported rice flooding the market just as the local farmers are harvesting their paddy rice looms, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported a few days ago that the national average farm gate price has fallen to an all-time high of P22 per kilo has fallen to P21.50.

Prices are expected to fall further at peak harvest season because this will be the time when the imported rice is expected to reach the market.

While this is a welcome relief to the consumers who have complained of rising prices of rice in the market, this could be a sad development for the country’s rice farmers who for the first time in the history of the industry enjoyed good returns from their farms.

The delay in the arrival of rice imported by both the NFA and the private sector is also the main factor behind the spike in the prices of rice in the market.

Traditionally, imported rice are scheduled to arrive in the country during the lean months or the period when the local farmers have planted their new rice crops after the Wet Season Planting.

These lean months are June, July, August and early September which will end when harvests start mid-September to late November.

The issuance of the import permits both for NFA and the private sector, however, was delayed because of a disagreement between the NFA and the NFA Council, the governing body composed of several government agencies (but not including the Department of Agriculture) over the mode of importation.

The conflict dragged for several months and was only resolved when President Rody Duterte finally stepped in and ordered the NFA Council to fasttrack the importation.

Bidding for the NFA rice and private sector import allocations was done in May but by that time, the NFA warehouses were almost empty and prices of commercial rice in the market spiked up.

The late arrival of the imported rice has also placed the country’s buffer supply at critical level resulting in speculation in the market which further pushed rice prices up.

The first 250,000 metric tons of imported NFA rice supply started arriving July for Luzon while the allocation for Mindanao is just being unloaded in several ports now.

The private sector importation, however, is expected to arrive by the end of August towards early September by which time the farmers would already start harvesting their paddy rice.

Hopefully, with the recent passage of the Agriculture Tariffication Act which when signed into law by President Duterte would officially include the DA in the NFA Council, this experience would not be repeated.

With the needed inputs from the DA, bringing in the imported rice to supply the country’s shortfall in production of about 7% would be made at the right time to ensure that there is enough rice supply during the lean months and the imports do not come during the harvest season to protect the farmers.

#LessonsLearned!

(Photo shows NFA rice supply being unloaded in the Port of Zamboanga, the first shipment of NFA rice to the city in five months. Photos by Diane Faith Garcia)