Vietnam tapped to supply NFA’s rice import share

RICE IMPORTATION plans for the year will involve the National Food Authority (NFA) undertaking a government-to-government deal with Vietnam while the private sector will have the liberty to seek shipments from other Southeast Asian suppliers, a Cabinet official yesterday said.

"The private sector will be allowed to negotiate their importation on their own since it will benefit them if they find a cheaper deal with another country," Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said.

The NFA Council has allowed private firms to import up to 660,000 metric tons (MT) of rice out of this year’s approved 860,000 MT to ease the financial burden on country’s debt-ridden grains agency.

"We are not forcing them to buy rice from Vietnam; they just need to fulfill their importation volume," Mr. Alcala said.

The government to government deal for the remaining 200,000 metric tons, the Agriculture chief said, falls under a memorandum of agreement signed by the Philippines and Vietnam in 2008.

"The agreement merely guarantees us that Vietnam will prioritize servicing our volume requirements when we do decide to order from them," Mr. Alcala explained.

A final schedule for the private sector bidding and the NFA’s own importation remains unavailable due to delays in approving the agency’s new service fee policy.

Mr. Alcala, however, gave assurances that the private sector bidding would proceed before the month ends.

"Not all exporting countries have begun harvesting, so we are still on schedule," he said.

"[W]e do need to place our orders soon, so the rice could be delivered by the third week of May or June [at the latest] before lean season comes."

The Philippines had been the biggest buyer of Vietnamese rice in recent years. Shortly after Manila announced its 200,000 MT purchase plan, Vietnam said it would cut the minimum price requirement for rice exports by 2%-4% later this week.

Rice prices in Vietnam, the world’s second largest exporter after Thailand, fell around 4% this week as the winter-spring harvest entered its peak in Mekong Delta and demand remained thin.

The Philippines’ imports are small compared with Vietnam’s export capacity from its current harvest of three million tons of milled rice. -

(Source: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?title=Vietnam%20tapped%20to%20supply%20NFA%E2%80%99s%20rice%20import%20share&id=27740)