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NFA must be allowed to import, Rice Tariffication Law must be reviewed: businessman

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ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- The Rice Tarriffication Law must be reviewed if the Philippines is to solve its problems with rice prices and supply, a businessman said Tuesday.Antonio Tiu, president and CEO of Agrinurture, said some of the law&#x27;s provisions are not advantageous to the country.&quot;For example, you’re not supposed to restrict NFA from importing rice, because NFA is supposed to be the agency in charge of the food security, particularly rice buffer inventory,&quot; he said.&quot;So restricting NFA’s ability to import basically leave the responsibility to provide enough supply to the local market to the private sector. But private sector will only step in when there’s a profit to be made,&quot; he explained.Tiu said NFA must not be restricted to buying only local rice.&quot;If you only allow NFA to buy local rice, we have seasonality problems, issues in terms of rice availability every year,&quot; he said.&quot;So this seasonality problem can only be addressed by importation in the short term, in the foreseeable future because attaining rice self-sufficiency will take years if not decades to achieve.&quot;The businessman also said the Philippines&#x27; problems with rice supply do not seem to be over yet.&quot;This rice problem is more on the macro side. We have neighbors suffering from a shortfall in terms of harvest, we have neighbors aggressively buying for their buffer inventory program, and we have neighbors preparing for war. So it’s a lot of geopolitics and macroeconomics,&quot; he said.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in August imposed a P41 per kilo price ceiling for well-milled rice and P45 per kilo for regular-milled rice to rein in the soaring cost of the staple grain.But farmers, retailers, and economists alike have hit his order, saying it will only hurt the Philippine economy.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/11/23/price-ceilings-will-also-hurt-farmers-experts-say">Price ceilings will also hurt farmers, experts say</a></li></ul>Economic managers have stressed that the rice price cap is only temporary. They have also proposed other measures--like cutting tariffs on imported rice--to curb retail prices.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/11/23/economic-managers-back-rice-price-ceiling-diokno">Economic managers back rice price ceiling: Diokno</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/09/11/23/lifting-of-rice-price-cap-to-be-decided-within-2-weeks-dti">Lifting of rice price cap to be decided &#x27;within 2 weeks&#x27;: DTI</a></li></ul><div>--ANC, 12 September 2023</div><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/09/11/23/economists-back-move-to-reduce-rice-import-tariffs">Economists back move to reduce rice import tariffs</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/12/23/solon-urges-caution-in-dof-plan-to-on-rice-import-tariff">Solon urges caution in DOF plan to zero out rice import tariff</a></li></ul>

The Rice Tarriffication Law must be reviewed if the Philippines is to solve its problems with rice prices and supply, an agri-businessman said.