The National Food Authority's (NFA) buffer stock of rice has reached a critical low as it only has eight more days worth of rice bags left in its warehouse.
The NFA said it only has 19,000 sacks left in a warehouse in Quezon City that supplies the whole span of Manila, short of the required 15-day everyday buffer stock and the 30-day stock for the rainy season, according to a report by GMA News' Leigh Alviz on Balitanghali.
The NFA is currently waiting for an approval for a government-to-government transaction involving an initial importation of rice stock of 250,000 metric tons from Thailand and China to plug the shortage.
Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said they were hoping the harvest season would also help augment the country's rice supply in addition to these imports.
"We want to believe na kung may harvest season po tayo ay meron po tayong stock," Cayanan said.
However, the NFA is reluctant to solely rely on local farmers as their buying price of P22 per kilo is far more expensive than the NFA's P17 per kilo buying price for unhusked rice or palay.
Retailers are already feeling the effects of the rice shortage as prices per sack have increased by P50 while waiting for a P1 increase on each kilo of rice.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol initially blocked the request to import rice to avoid coinciding with the harvest season.
He also recommended the creation of a task force to prove that the alleged rice shortage in the country is merely a rumor used by cartels to manipulate the price of rice.
Piñol said he could sense of rice traders and cartels are trying to create an artificial shortage of the staple. "Those hoarding rice should be charged with economic sabotage."
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