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Govt won’t front load rice imports for 2012


The Department of Agriculture (DA) chose to refrain from advancing some rice imports for 2012 despite government's lack of the grain in the remaining months of 2011. “The most we can do is to conduct a tender by the first quarter. That is the likelihood, that is feasible at the moment," Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told reporters on Thursday during the 2012 budget hearing for the DA. He said that with the harvest of the wet season crop starting in a few days, “there is still time for us to evaluate how much we have and the remaining inventory that is in the possession of commercial institutions and households." As of Wednesday, rice stocks in government warehouses was about 1.2 million metric tons (MT), equivalent to 44 days, while those in commercial establishments were good for 20 days, or less than three months inventory with still about four months to go until yearend. Alcala said government will not import more than 500,000 metric tons (MT) rice as buffer stock for 2012, considering that the expected palay output next year is about 19.2 million MT. The country has imported 860,000 MT of rice so far this year, equivalent to a third of the total rice importation in 2010. 2011 rice forecasts Earlier forecast had predicted that rice production in 2011 could reach 17.29 million MT. Palay production for the first semester grew 14.4 percent to 7.57 million MT. In the second half of the year, palay production was forecast to hit 9.717 million MT, or 6.2 percent higher than last year’s 9.152 million MT. The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics expects palay output from July to October 2011 to increase by 32 percent to 3.49 million MT from 2.65 million MT a year earlier. In 2010, total rice production reached 15.77 million MT, 3.04 percent lower than what was produced in 2009 when agriculture was hampered by the El Niño weather phenomenon. The Bureau said area harvested may increase by 10.2 percent from last year’s record 1.82 million hectares, and yield per hectare was expected to have improved from 3.64 MT in 2010 to 3.80 MT in 2011.— MRT/ELR/VS GMA News

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