MANILA: The Philippines, one of the world’s top rice buyers, is seeking to import up to 250,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia in a tender scheduled on Aug. 31, according to a copy of a government document seen by Reuters.
The volume is part of the government’s plan to import up to 1 million tonnes of rice to secure supply through next year while prices are low in top exporters Vietnam and Thailand. The imports would also boost the Southeast Asian nation’s buffer stock ahead of the typhoon season towards the end of the year. Despite the upcoming tender, benchmark rice prices in Vietnam and Thailand remained near multi-month lows.
The National Food Authority is looking to buy 25 percent broken rice, with delivery of the first 100,000 tonnes expected not later than Sept. 30 and the remaining amount not later than Oct. 31, according to the document. Of the planned 1 million tonnes of rice to be imported, 750,000 tonnes will be purchased via government-to-government deals, while the remaining amount will be shipped in by private companies, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said last week. The Philippines expects its paddy rice output to reach 18.135 million tonnes in 2016, flat from last year, following crop losses in the first half due to the El Nino-induced drought.
During a congressional hearing tackling the Department of Agriculture’s 2017 budget, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Thursday (25/08) reiterated his target to make the country self sufficient in rice production by 2019. “We don’t know when the next El Nino will hit us, we don’t know when the next La Nina will hit us. We cannot continue relying on imported rice,” Pinol told lawmakers.
“We will focus on boosting rice production and increasing the income of our farmers. We will provide free irrigation to our farmers, like those in Vietnam and Thailand.” The Philippines imported around 1.8 million tonnes of rice in 2015, below a record volume of 2.45 million tonnes in 2010.
