MANILA: The Philippines may import 400,000 metric tons of rice in the first half of next year, the administrator of the state grains agency said.
Renan Dalisay, head of the National Food Authority, told that the additional rice import will be on top of the 500,000 tons the country has already imported from Thailand and Vietnam during the September bidding.
The Philippines’s rice harvest this year is projected to reach up to 18.5 million tons, around 1.5 million short of the target production due to expected damages caused by typhoons and El Nino. Of the more than 2 million tons of rice the NFA has decided to import this year, around 1.7 million tons have been delivered.
Mr. Dalisay said a final assessment will be made in January on how much rice will be imported for 2016.
El Nino is expected to intensify in the first half of 2016.
