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No rice hoarding,
retailers assure
By
Christine Enriquez-Uayan
DAVAO -- Grains Confederation (Grecon)
Regional Chair Pablo Gonzales assured Wednesday that the city's
rice retailers do not practice rice hoarding to create an artificial
shortage.
Gonzales said they recently inked an
agreement with the National Food Authority (NFA) penalizing the
organization once a member is found violating the ethical standards
in selling rice, among them hoarding and exorbitant pricing.
Instead, he warned consumers not to
resort to household hoarding since this is more disadvantageous
than commercial hoarding.
"Mas delikado kung ang mga consumers
ang mag-hoard kasi hindi na babalik sa market ang supply (Hoarding
by households is more dangerous than commercial hoarding because
the supply will not go back to the market)," he said.
Citing from experience, Gonzales said
a consumer who buys an average of 2 kilos a day, may purchase at
least 10 kilos of rice a day once panic buying sets in.
Rice traders, on the other hand, have
long been reported to keep a portion of the rice supply to create
an artificial shortage, and subsequently, a higher price of rice
in the market.
Gonzales said Grecon members have been
considering the welfare of both the farmers and the consumers and
added the continuous supply of rice in the market, coupled with
NFA's constant monitoring, have deterred some scrupulous rice traders
from hoarding.
NFA Davao City Chief Prasad Alpad,
for his part, claimed the city as having enough rice supply to last
for more than four months.
He said a total of 116,000 bags of
imported rice arrived from Vietnam in May, while another 126,000
bags were shipped in the city two months ago.
Another 120,000 bags of rice from Thailand
were unloaded early this month. Alpad said the city consumes an
average of 5,800 bags a day.
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