THE National Food Authority (NFA) is expected to earn P557.3 million following its council-approved increase in its selling price of rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other government agencies.
“The higher selling price agreed to by DSWD will help not only reduce NFA losses but also give additional resources to buy more palay (unmilled rice) from farmers,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.
In 2023, the NFA suffered a P6.19-billion net loss after buying a nine-day buffer stock of 300,000 metric tons of rice from farmers.
“At a selling price of P38 a kilo, the additional revenue from sales from DSWD will allow us to buy an additional 400,000 (50-kilo) bags of palay,” NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said, adding this means having 12,600 metric tons of incremental rice supply.
Thus, it would help boost the NFA’s rice buffer and increase farmers’ income, Lacson noted, while assuring the rice price increase of P38 a kilo from the previous P25 for DSWD and other relief agencies and local government units won’t have an impact on its market price.
Earlier this year, the NFA council approved to increase the selling price of rice from P16 to P23 per kilo to P17 to P30 per kilo to allow the agency to compete with private traders due to El Niño and the lingering effect of India’s rice export ban (it has since lifted the ban).
The adjustment in its procurement price allowed NFA to buy around 3.5 million (50-kilo) bags of palay as of end-June 2024. Prior to the price adjustment, the NFA had bought less than 200,000 bags.
This wet season, the NFA will buy between 6.4 million and 8.7 million bags of palay. It has requested the Department of Budget and Management for the immediate release of procurement funds worth P11 billion.
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