ABOUT 370,000 bags of imported Vietnam rice will be delivered to Cebu City’s port area for Central and Eastern Visayas, the regional National Food Authority (NFA) office said yesterday.
The 370,000 bags of Vietnam rice were part of the 54,000 metric tons or roughly 1.8 million bags of rice bought by the national government for the two regions, regional NFA information officer Lucy Rosales said.
“The shipment is lower than the 200,000 metric tons purchased by the previous administration as the Aquino government wants to raise self-sufficiency in rice production,” Rosales said.
The purchase of Vietnam rice is covered in the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) portion of the government to government agreement for rice between the two nations under the World Trade Organization (WTO).
About eight vessels would deliver the rice shipment to Cebu this month. The first vessel, the MV Vien Dong 3, unloaded 120,000 bags of rice last Saturday while the other two vessels were supposed to arrive today.
The MV Northern Star is carrying 130,000 bags while the MV My Hung is carrying 120,000 bags of rice. About 400,000 bags of rice will be sent to Eastern Visayas.
Rosales told CDN that NFA rice is still priced at P27 per kilo. She said their office will maintain adequate rice stocks to meet consumer demand in the second half of the year. Correspondent Michelle Joy L. Padayhag