Philippines paddy rice procurement slides due to El Niño

The government’s palay (unhusked rice) procurement as of the third week of March slid by almost a fifth from a year earlier amid an El Niño-induced drought. In a statement, the Agriculture department said the National Food Authority (NFA) bought 962,655 bags of palay — 489,114 bags in January, 339,543 bags in February and 133,998 bags by the third week of March. It is targeting to buy 696,900 bags this April, the peak of the summer harvest. NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro noted that with tight rice supply, its active buying had pushed competition among traders, benefiting farmers. The farm level price of paddy rice averages P16.82 per kilo — 75 centavos higher than a year earlier — or P37.50 per cavan of 50 kilograms. The NFA buys clean and dry paddy rice at P17.70 per kilo, inclusive of drying, transport and cooperative development incentives. These incentives bring the agency’s effective palay buying price to P885 per cavan. Navarro noted that aside from higher prices, farmers also can either immediately sell their produce or wait for the price to appreciate further. Farmers who planted their crop early were also spared from the ill effects of El Niño, producing clean and dry palay that they can sell higher with minimal expenses. The NFA is buying at a daily average rate of 8,960 bags. Southern Tagalog posted the highest volume of paddy rice bought with 458,570 bags, most of these coming from Occidental Mindoro totaling 223,270 bags. Procurement was also high in the Ilocos region at 167,893bags, mostly from La Union and Western Pangasinan. The Bicol region also posted high procurement volume at 151,133 bags mostly bought from Camarines Sur. The NFA bought 53,370 bags from Central Mindanao farmers, more than half of which came from Sultan Kudarat. The NFA is aiming to buy 11.7 million bags of palay this year.