Isabela millers send more rice to Metro Manila

SANTIAGO CITY—Isabela rice millers sent 14,000 bags of commercial rice to Metro Manila on Monday, part of their commitment for 100,000 bags to stabilize prices of the staple.

The Isabela Rice Millers Association would absorb the cost of selling the stocks at P39 a kilogram. It valued the initial deliveries at P27.3 million.

The group joined millers of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan provinces who earlier sent cheaper rice to Metro Manila after heeding President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for the poor to have access to affordable rice.

Imported rice

Prices shot up when the National Food Authority (NFA) stopped distributing rice sold for less than P40 a kilo. NFA buffer stocks suffered a sharp drop as the agency awaited 250,000 metric tons of rice imported from Vietnam and Thailand at the end of May.

“The stocks would further be boosted as we have been buying now more rice from farmers and cooperatives,” said Malou Luluquisen, information officer of NFA in Cagayan Valley.

Mel Coronel, president of the Nueva Ecija Rice Millers Association, said 30,000 bags of rice had been delivered by their members since April 16. —Reports from Villamor Visaya Jr. and Anselmo Roque