Prices of NFA rice to stay steady as commercial rice gets more expensive

Malacañang on Sunday assured the public that there will be no price hike in National Food Authority (NFA)-supplied rice even as commercial rice prices increased by P2 per kilogram.

"Walang pagtataas ng presyo ang NFA rice," said Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. in an interview over radio dzRB on Sunday.

The current NFA rice stock can last until the first week of September, he noted.

The price of NFA regular milled rice will stay at P27 per kilogram, while NFA well-milled rice sells at P32/kg, Coloma said.

The government is supposed to import around 800,000 metric tons of rice this year, he added. So far, 193,000 MT have been delivered while 274,250 MT are scheduled for delivery in late June with the balance of 332,350 MT expected in August.

"Nagbigay ng abiso ang NFA sa supplier na tingnan ang posibilidad na mapabilis o mapaaga ang delivery," he said.

This month, prices of commercial rice rose by P2 per kilo with standard prices for commercial rice starting at P40/kg.

NFA expects the prices to normalize by September as the harvest season starts.

Some consumers have opted to buy more affordable NFA rice causing losses for some rice traders as the NFA moves to flood markets with rice to keep the prices stable.

According to Coloma, the NFA has doubled the rice allocation to its stores to 25,000 bags a day from 12,500 bags a day.

It has also added more NFA outlets to 1,120 from 1,018, or a 10-percent increase in government rice retailers.

"We are advising the public that they will implement the full force of the law on those who divert, hoard, and overprice government or NFA rice," Coloma said.

A hotline to report diversion, hoarding, and overpricing of NFA rice has been set up at (02) 454-1214 and 0906-4363143.

Pork, chicken prices also up

Meanwhile, Coloma explained that pork prices increased recently due to an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in piglets. The epidemic has affected some 8 million piglets in the US, Coloma added.

Poultry raisers have meanwhile blamed the hot weather last summer for slowing the growth of their chickens and raising prices.

Hog and poultry raisers said that pork and chicken prices, respectively, will ease in the coming weeks, Coloma said.

The PCOO secretary also said that the Manila truck ban was a "contributory factor" in the commodity price increases.

"Patuloy naman ‘yung pagsisikap na ma-clear po ‘yung backlog ng mga kargamento na naipit sa ating Port of Manila," he said. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/JDS/KG, GMA News