Philippines to import extra 200,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam

The Philippines will import an additional 200,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam this year to boost local supply and stabilise retail prices that have risen to record levels, fanning inflation pressures, a senior agriculture official said. Francis Pangilinan, presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernisation, announced the decision late on Thursday after a meeting with President Benigno Aquino and other agriculture officials.
Pangilinan said the additional supply will boost the stocks of state grains procurement agency, National Food Authority (NFA). The government will also acquire some 20,000 tonnes of smuggled rice seized by the Bureau of Customs, he said. The Philippines, one of the world's biggest rice importers, has already bought a total of 1.3 million tonnes from Vietnam, the world's No 2 exporter of the grain after India, in deals over the last seven months.
The additional purchases by the Philippines could help support export prices of rice in Vietnam, which were barely changed in recent days. Loading for China, the Philippines and Malaysia helped keep rice prices stable in Vietnam in the past week despite thin buying demand. It is unclear if the planned extra rice purchase from Vietnam will be similar to the government-to-government deal the NFA sought late last year, or if bids will still be sought from rice traders there.
Local retail prices of the national staple have risen by more than 20 percent from last year amid government efforts to curb rampant smuggling of the grain into the country. The NFA has been releasing more than the usual volume of rice into local markets in recent weeks in an effort to prevent prices of varieties sold by private traders from rising further.
This year's rice purchases by the Southeast Asian nation are its biggest since 2010, when it bought a record 2.45 million tonnes. It bought 500,000 tonnes from Vietnam in a deal sealed in November after a strong typhoon damaged crops and almost depleted NFA's inventory. The decision to import more rice comes after Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala announced on Monday the country would keep quantitative restrictions on its purchases of the grain in place until 2017 after winning international support to maintain import curbs.