The National Food Authority (NFA) said it will delay the purchase of palay from farmers to avoid further pushing up prices, even as it assured the public of sufficient rice supply.

NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the agency is currently buying palay at P17 per kilo for fresh (unhusked) and P21 per kilo for dry palay—lower than traders’ national average rates of P21 and P25 per kilo.

In an interview over DZBB on Sunday, Lacson warned that buying at this time could add pressure to market prices.

“If we were to buy palay from the harvest at this time, we would only add more pressure that could push prices higher,” he said in Filipino.

He added that the NFA will wait for prices to stabilize before resuming procurement by the end of March to replenish the national buffer stock.

The agency aims to procure 790,000 metric tons of palay annually, but Lacson admitted that available funding may not be enough to meet the target.

“We are not confident that we can buy the entire target. For this particular season, we hope to purchase enough to replenish the stocks we have released—roughly enough for three days—so that we have adequate buffer stock going into the lean months of the rainy season,” he said.

Despite the delay in procurement, the NFA assured the public that rice supply remains stable, with stocks increasing due to ample supply in the market.

Lacson said additional storage capacity is expected to be available by early April to help secure the country’s rice supply.

“The National Food Authority has sufficient rice supply. This means our [national] buffer stock can last for ten days, which is enough to feed the Philippines for thirty days,” he said.