ZAMBOANGA CITY — A shipload of rice imported from Thailand arrived here just in time as the supply of commercial rice is running out at the local market, an official said Saturday.
Ruben Manatad, National Food Authority (NFA) assistant regional director, said the cargo ship, VTC Dragon, loaded with 360,000 bags of rice of 50 kilos each, dropped anchor on Friday at the local port.
Of the total shipment, Manatad said the NFA-Zamboanga warehouse is only allotted to receive 120,000 bags of rice.
Manatad said that remaining 240,000 bags of the rice shipment will be unloaded in Cagayan de Oro City and General Santos City.
Only 40,000 of the 120,000 bags of rice shipment to NFA-Zamboanga warehouse will be distributed to the local market, the NFA official said.
He said 50,000 bags have been allotted for the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur, while the remaining 30,000 bags will be shipped to Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces, which are part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Manatad said the shipment was supposed to arrive here in June this year but was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances faced by the rice supplier in Thailand.
“The shipment (of rice) is not enough to sustain the local demand,” Manatad said, adding the city has already run out of commercial rice stocks.
“I was informed that this was the first time commercial rice has run out of stocks in this city,” he said.
He said the situation has prompted them to release to the NFA-accredited retailers the last inventory of 987 bags of rice they have at the warehouse. A kilo is sold at PHP32.
He said each of the 62 accredited retailers at the local public markets is allocated 10 bags of rice weekly, while accredited-retailers in the barangays receive an allocation of five bags a week.
Meanwhile, Manatad said another shipment of 40,000 bags of rice intended for this city is expected to arrive in the next three weeks from Thailand.
“The role of the NFA is just to support in supplying the demand of the local market, not to be the main supplier,” he added. ( Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
