MANILA, Philippines – The National Food Authority (NFA) on Thursday assured that it has sufficient rice stocks amid the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal said there are 450,000 bags of rice currently available in Metro Manila, good for 40 days, considering that the NFA’s market participation is pegged at 10 percent. On the whole, the country’s rice inventory is estimated at 2.14 million MT, which is enough to meet Filipinos’ daily rice consumption for 66 days. Of that volume, government rice stock is at 481,800 MT, or equivalent to 15 days of the country’s rice consumption requirement. Under the law, the NFA is mandated to maintain a sufficient level of rice buffer to primarily cater to emergency and calamity operations.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 13, 2020 01:52 UTC