THE National Food Authority (NFA) said its rice inventory is the equivalent of 11 days’ national consumption, which it judged as sufficient to meet projected demand even with the extension of the enhanced community quarantine imposed on Luzon.
NFA Administrator Judy Carol L. Dansal added that due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the NFA’s current market participation level — a measure of how much domestic rice it is buying and storing — is at 17.31%, against its usual share of 10%.
“Our rice supply is more than enough,” Ms. Dansal said.
Ms. Dansal also urged commercial rice traders to continue importing rice and to charge reasonable prices when selling to consumers.
She said that 90% of the country’s rice requirements are fulfilled by commercial rice traders.
Recently, the NFA released 88,065 bags of rice to the local governments of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela.
“NFA and commercial rice traders need to work together to address the rice demands of the country,” Ms. Dansal said.
On March 30, NFA said that its rice inventory was at 481,800 metric tons.
The rice inventory included stocks bought from farmers during the last quarter of 2019. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
