Palace says public can buy commercial rice instead of NFA

February 7, 2018

Malacanang insisted on Wednesday there is no shortage of rice as the public could buy commercial rice instead of the government-subsidized grains.

In a phone patch interview with reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said what has been depleted was the rice from the National Food Authority (NFA).

"(But) this does not mean that there is shortage of rice in the Philippines. There are lots of commercial rice and other rice in the market," he said.

He explained prices of palay in the country have increased, resulting in the depletion of NFA resources.

Roque reiterated there is a standby authority to import 250,000 metric tons of rice.

NFA rice is being sold at a much lower price compared to commercial rice varieties.

According to a recent statement of NFA, it sells rice at P27 and P32 per kilogram, while commerical rice varieties of comparable quality are sold at P36 to P41/kg.

NFA has estimated that its presence in the market is only about 6-10 percent.

But it noted that NFA presence in the market over the years has  effectively pulled down or stabilized inflation rates in the food sector as rice occupies about 25 percent of the total food basket of Filipinos. Celerina Monte/DMS