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Saturday, June 18, 2005
Viet rice auction sale stalls hoarding: dads
THE recent auction sale of Vietnam rice that the National Food Authority conducted in Davao City has stalled attempts by some traders to hoard commercial rice, preventing what would have been a detrimental move affecting the consumers, city councilors said.
In a resolution passed under suspended rules, the City Council commended the NFA for successfully conducting in the city an auction sale of imported Vietnam rice on April 26 and June 6.
Councilor Pilar Braga, author of the resolution, said the various benefits of the Vietnam rice auction sale in Davao have made the participation of the private sector on rice importation activity help in the increase in supply of commercial rice.
"The rice auction has made consumers assured of sufficient rice supply not only of the government's NFA rice but also of commercial rice, and that this sufficient supply of rice in the market has helped prevent any attempt of rice hoarding to the detriment of the consumers," Braga said.
She said the auction sale was supposed to have been conducted at the NFA Central Office, but reportedly upon the request of some Davao City grain traders owing to the high cost of going to Manila, the volume of rice was distributed to the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao areas.
Braga, chair of the council's trade and industry committee, said the venue of the first auction for the Mindanao area involving a volume of 250,000 rice bags was conducted on April 26 at the NFA Davao office.
The participants in the rice auction included NFA-licensed retailers and wholesalers or millers as well as farmers' organizations in the region, Braga said.
Further, she said the venue of the second auction for the Mindanao area was conducted on June 6 also at the NFA Davao office, this time involving a volume of 200,000 rice bags for Regions 11 and 12 and for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Braga said the participation of the private sector on rice importation activity has also influenced in stabilizing the prevailing prices in the market, particularly in pulling down the price of commercial rice for the benefit of the consumers.
"The auction has given farmers in the Mindanao area particularly in Davao City the opportunity of earning their major source of livelihood during the lean months while waiting for the next planting, helping change them from mere rice producers to real rice entrepreneurs," she said.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 18, 2005 issue)
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