The Philippines has bought an additional 123,750 tonnes of rice, mostly from Vietnam, bringing total imports since the start of the year to about 1.32 million tonnes, a government source said on Wednesday.
The Philippines is one of the biggest rice importers in Asia as domestic production cannot keep up with population growth. Officials expect Manila to buy between 1.65-1.8 million tonnes of the staple this year. It bought 1.65 million tonnes last year.
The latest volume bought included 103,750 tonnes of rice from Vietnam Southern Food Corp or Vinafood and three other Vietnamese firms, a source at the National Food Authority (NFA), the rice importing arm of the government, told Reuters.
The rest will come from international trading firms Toepfer, Asia Golden Rice and LG International. The Philippines had sought to buy up to 145,000 tonnes of rice at the same terms and prices from 10 suppliers who won contracts at a February 28 tender.
The NFA has given trading firms Sethi Rice and Thai Hua (2511) Co until Thursday to decide whether they will sell 2,500 tonnes and 6,250 tonnes of Thai rice, respectively, the source, who did not want to be named, said. Thailand's President Agri Trading Co Ltd declined to sell to the Philippines an additional 12,500 tonnes of rice, the source added.
Under Philippine law, the NFA can re-order 25 percent of the volume it bought at a previous tender at the same prices and terms within six months. At the February 28 tender, the NFA bought 580,000 tonnes of rice for delivery between March and June, of which 415,000 tonnes was to come from Vietnam, 155,000 tonnes from Thailand and 10,000 tonnes from Pakistan. At a tender in January, the Southeast Asian country bought 500,000 tonnes of rice, also mostly from Vietnam. It also bought from the same suppliers an additional 118,500 tonnes.