GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The city’s consumer welfare council is closely monitoring the prices of commercial rice in various markets here in the wake of the depletion of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) rice stocks in the area.
Asuncion Rodriguez, council president, said Friday they are specifically watching out for unreasonable price adjustments and other related activities by unscrupulous rice retailers.
She urged local rice retailers to refrain from taking advantage of consumers and creating scenarios that would worsen the situation.
Rodriguez said it is the poor consumers who would be directly affected if commercial rice prices would again increase.
“Everybody consumes rice, so we are calling on the retailers to not abuse the situation,” she said.
Commercial rice prices in public and supermarkets here currently range from PHP40 to PHP51 per kg., depending on the variety.
NFA rice was sold at PHP27 per kg. but the agency’s accredited outlets here have already run out of supplies since Monday.
Dionisio Hectin Jr., NFA Sarangani-General Santos provincial manager, said they have so far used up all their standby imported rice stocks.
He said they have requested for augmentation from their central office but the procurement process for the additional rice supplies is still ongoing.
Hectin said they are not certain if the fresh rice supplies could arrive by next month as the bidding process alone could take more than one month.
Last year, he said, the NFA provincial office received an allotment of 5,000 metric tons (MT) of imported rice or equivalent to 100,000 bags.
The official said these stocks came from the 25,000 MT allotted for NFA-Davao region, which has jurisdiction over this city and Sarangani province.
“Based on our distribution schedule, we have to request for augmentation every six months,” he said in a radio interview.
Citing their monitoring, Hectin said they have not monitored increases in the prices of commercial rice as a result of the absence of NFA rice in the markets.
He, however, acknowledged that the agency needs to inject supplies into the local markets soon to help stabilize rice prices. (PNA)
