MANILA: Philippines’ state-run National Food Authority (NFA) is mulling the importation of around 800,000 metric tons (MT) of rice via government-to-government scheme that will serve as the country’s buffer stock in preparation for the start of the lean months.
This comes after the NFA decided to reject the extension of the private sector-led importation under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme.
In a briefing yesterday, NFA administrator Jason Aquino said importation would cover 250,000 MT as standby authority and another 550,000 MT for the lean months which starts in July and ends in September.
“Buffer stock of the NFA is short. By the end of June, we will be short of three days that’s why we are pushing for the approval of the 250,000 MT importation,” Aquino said.
“We will ask again for the implementation of that because it was already approved. We need to utilize by June this year the remaining standby volume to cover the gap in our 15-day buffer stock requirement,” he added.
The 250,000 MT of rice are targeted to arrive by June, Aquino said.
