Imported rice supply for I.N. arrives–NFA

  • Only an initial 250 bags are unloaded
    as part of the 32,000 bags allotted for the province

LAOAG CITY — National Food Authority provincial manager Eleanor Andres reported that a total of 250 bags of imported rice from Thailand arrived and unloaded at the NFA Laoag warehouse here on Wednesday, July 11.

She said that the initial delivery was only a fraction of the estimated 32,000 bags of the imported rice allotted for the province this year, to be distributed to the different public markets and other places of the province until December.

“We hope to complete the delivery before a calamity strikes. By then, we will be ready for relief operations as part of the priority agenda of the NFA rice distribution program,” Andres said.

She said that the recent shipment from Thailand arrived on board a cargo vessel at the Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union.

Region 1 would get a total share of about 280,000 bags of rice, she added.

She told reporters that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in the cities of Batac and Laoag had already gotten several bags of the imported NFA rice for their inmates’ daily food consumption.

However, prior to distribution to the local public markets, the NFA Ilocos Norte field officers met with the accredited rice retailers in the province to discuss the rules and regulations pertaining to the selling of NFA rice.

She also clarified that even though there had been no rice shortage in the province, grain prices in Ilocos region have been adversely affected by the nationwide low supply of rice.

She claimed that this situation prompted the national government to import rice to replenish the diminishing NFA rice buffer stocks. (tri-media report)