NEARLY TWO-THIRDS of the rice allocation for private traders had been awarded as of Thursday, an official of the state grain agency said.
"Seven traders have qualified to import 20,000 metric tons (MT) of rice each," Gilberto F. Lauengco, co-chairman of the National Food Authority (NFA) bids and awards committee (BAC), said in a telephone interview yesterday.
These latest grants are on top of the previously awarded volume of 255,348 MT distributed among 13 traders.
This brings the total to 395,348 MT, or 65.9% of the duty-free rice importation quota for private traders totaling 600,000 MT. There are 15 importers vying to get a slice of the remaining 204,652 MT, Mr. Lauengco added.
"While reviewing the credentials of the remaining 15 companies, we encountered a few issues in corroborating their documents, so we are awaiting their explanation until Monday, so we can finish the post-qualification process," he explained.
If the last round of review disqualifies any more traders, the NFA could face a shortfall in private sector imports, although the grain official assured that there is still time to re-bid the balance.
"According to BAC policies, we can hold up to two more auctions until we finish the quota," Mr. Lauengco said.
"But right now, there is no way of saying whether this will happen or not," he added.
"In case, we do have to do a re-bidding, we can do it as early as two weeks later, without delaying the shipments."
The NFA has set a 860,000-MT total for imports this year, so far, adding that there is no intention to buy more from abroad due to expected good local production.
The government had sealed a deal with Vietnam for 200,000 MT, while an auction conducted last April 4 for 60,000 MT pre-qualified 32 farm cooperatives.
(Source: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=More-rice-traders-get-permits&id=29852)
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