The National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines is inviting tenders for the supply of 500,000 tonnes of rice through an open auction scheduled for August 27.

In a notice recently posted on its website, the agency said that it has allotted around 10.27 billion pesos (235 million USD) for importing the amount of rice between September and November in order to deal with a decline in the national stockpile.

Accordingly, the NFA will open tender for five lots of 100,000 tonnes each, in which qualified suppliers can bid for a minimum quantity of 50,000 tonnes with the biding fee of 75,000 pesos (around 1,712 USD) per lot.

The rice meant for imports should be 25 percent broken, long grain, well-milled and harvested during January and June 2014.

The additional import will bring the daily national stock to 10,000 tonnes in order to prepare for possible disasters and reduce local retail prices of the grain, said Francis Pangilinan, Chairman of the NFA council and Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernisation.-VNA