MANILA, Philippines — State-run National Food Authority (NFA) will auction off about 25,000 metric tons of milled rice next month to free up its warehouses in time for the upcoming wet season harvest, its administrator said.
NFA administrator Larry Lacson said the auction would also include a significant volume of palay. For rice, the NFA is expected to bid out 500,000 50-kilo bags of milled rice or about 25,000 metric tons.
“We really have to free up the warehouses so we really have to do this auction in time for the peak season harvest,” he said.
As to the floor price for the auction, Lacson said this would depend on market factors, especially prevailing retail prices of rice, particularly imported supplies. He said he hopes that the auction price for rice would not deviate much from P29 per kilo.
“We have to be very realistic as to how much the market price is right now in order for the auction to be successful,” he said.
Earlier this month, Lacson said the NFA Council, the grains agency’s highest policy-making body, had approved the guidelines for the rice auction.
The NFA has been conducting public consultations in various regions nationwide regarding its proposed auction guidelines.
Lacson noted that the sale of NFA rice stocks through the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) subsidized rice sale is insufficient to flush out the stocks held by the grains agency that has reached over 430,000 metric tons already.
At present, the NFA disposes of its rice stocks through the subsidized rice sale of the DA and selling to various government agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
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