The Philippines will seek tenders on March 1 to buy 500,000 tonnes of rice for April/May delivery to fill a projected shortfall of between 1.1 million and 1.6 million tonnes this year, a senior official said on Friday. Gregory Tan, administrator of state trading firm National Food Authority, said that besides traditional suppliers Vietnam, Thailand and China, the country would also accept rice from Pakistan and the United States.
"We are including the United States because our requirement included 45,000 tonnes of iron-fortified rice," Tan told Reuters. Pakistan also offered to supply 25-percent or 15-percent broken rice varieties, Tan said.
The additional requirement would bring the country's imports this year to 900,000 tonnes. The NFA this month bought 400,000 tonnes of 25-percent broken rice varieties from five Vietnamese firms at $291.98 per tonne, including cost and freight.
Officials have said the country needs to import up to 1.6 million tonnes of the grain this year to meet expected demand, compared with a shortfall of 985,000 tonnes in 2004. The higher import estimate for 2005 was due to possible delays in replanting rice land damaged by four storms in November and December.
The government also took into account the possible impact of the El Nina weather pattern, the rise in the price of imported fertiliser and increased domestic demand for rice due to higher costs of bread and corn.
The government expected rice demand to rise to 28,400 tonnes per day this year from 27,000 tonnes in 2004.