BALANGA CITY, Bataan — The National Food Authority’s (NFA) provincial office here has reportedly stopped supplying rice to retail outlets in the province.
Retailer Roel dela Rosa said on Tuesday the last delivery of NFA rice they received was Holy Tuesday.
“It was only five sacks, thus it was already consumed last Good Friday,” he said.
NFA rice containers in his store instead have commercial rice sold for PHP40 per kilo and “binlid” (small rice particles) sold for PHP27 each kilo.
The NFA rice is being sold at PHP27 (regular milled) and PHP32 per kilo for the well-milled.
On January 15, 2018, NFA stopped supplying rice to its accredited retailers in Bataan, saying its stock was reserved for calamities. It resumed its delivery after a few weeks.
“We have a supply of NFA rice within a month but was all gone before the Holy Week,” NFA rice retailer Milagros Villasenior said.
She said NFA had supplied them with rice procured from local farmers.
As to commercial rice, she said the price in her store had increased to at least PHP42 a kilo.
“Instead of going down, the price during the Holy Week went up because the traders scrambled for the rice yields,” she said.
NFA provincial manager Adelaida Nuestro was out in a conference and no one in the office could be interviewed on Tuesday.
A source, however, at the NFA provincial office, who requested anonymity, confirmed that their last delivery of NFA rice to retailers was last Tuesday and that they could only resume supply after the arrival of imported rice.
The same source said they have already disposed of their stock purchased from local farmers. (PNA)
