00:00The Department of Agriculture is ready to issue a heavier fine to the importers
00:05that will prove that they will sell and abandon the rice harvested by the government.
00:11Meanwhile, the National Food Authority assured that the rice supply in the country is sufficient.
00:16This is Claycelle Pardilla for the report.
00:21It is possible that the Department of Agriculture blacklisted the importers
00:26that are selling and abandoning the rice harvested by the government.
00:31Agriculture Secretary Francisco T. Laurel Jr. said
00:35this will serve as a warning against the importers.
00:40The Philippine Ports Authority warned that several consignees are watching the rice in the fields
00:48and are waiting for the price of the rice to rise before it is exported.
00:53Definitely, the importers should be blacklisted.
00:58But of course, we have to really go look at what happened so that we can really see it.
01:04The National Food Authority assured that the rice supply is sufficient in times of emergency or calamity.
01:11More than 3 million sacks of rice are expected to be invented from the rice bought by the importers.
01:19There's nothing to worry about. We are very secure.
01:22The National Food Authority assured that the importers will buy the rice at a reasonable price
01:29in front of the report that some places in the Philippines are experiencing a decrease in the price of rice.
01:35The procurement price for wet rice is Php 17-23, Php 23-30 for dry rice.
01:43If the price of rice drops, we know that we will price it better
01:49so that we can raise the price and our farmers won't suffer.
01:54Some groups are worried about the effects of imported rice
02:00that could possibly cause a drop in the price of rice.
02:04If you import a lot of rice locally,
02:08and you also import cheap rice because you lower the price,
02:12the result is oversupply.
02:15The supply in the market is too high.
02:18The price of rice will drop even more.
02:21The only reason why the price of rice is going down is because we don't have enough cost harvest facilities.
02:30That's why when it rains, the rice is wet.
02:34That's when traders can take advantage of lowering their prices, not importation.
02:41The amount of importation that we monitor is just enough for the lack of production.
02:50The D.A. is pushing for the distribution of rice processing facilities to farm cooperatives
02:56while the N.F.A. is free to rent their drying facility
03:00so that the farmers can dry their rice.
03:04Kalei Zalpardilla for Pambansang TV in the new Philippines!
