CITY OF MALOLOS — Markets in Bulacan province have started selling commercial rice for P39 per kilogram to provide low-income families access to the staple usually supplied by the National Food Authority (NFA).
The Bulacan Rice Millers Association (BRMA) on Friday shipped the affordable rice to the NFA Bulacan office for distribution to local outlets.
Millers from Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Isabela initially shipped stocks of affordable rice to Metro Manila to stabilize prices of the grain when NFA stocks disappeared last month. Supply of NFA rice keeps commercial rice prices at bay.
But Bulacan millers redirected their supplies to the provincial market to move volumes of rice stored in local warehouses.
Manila retailers, who normally transact directly with millers in the Bulacan towns of Bocaue and Balagtas, have reduced their purchases due to the high cost of fuel, said Delanie Dinong, BRMA member and owner of Gold Rust Rice Mill.
More than a hundred BRMA members agreed to sell rice at P39 per kg, according to BRMA Vice President Roderico Sulit, but local demand has not been high so far.
Elvira Cruz Obana, Bulacan NFA Manager said only about 10 percent of 3 million Bulacan residents purchase NFA rice.
Sulit said an initial 10,000 bags of rice being sold for P39 per kg were available at the NFA Tikay outlet, the InterCity milling center in Bocaue and the Golden City millers district in Balagtas. Bulacan’s affordable rice initiative would be sustained until rice imported by the government arrive to replenish NFA stocks.
“But we could never afford to sell at the NFA rates of P27 to P32 a kg,” Sulit said. —Carmela Reyes-Estrope