DESPITE IMPOSING difficult terms, the Philippines on Wednesday received 10 bids for its rice auction of 250,000 metric tons.
The world's largest importer got a total 800,000 tons offered for delivery between January and April 2010.
The price ranged from $468.5 to $600 a ton, including cost and freight.
Daewoo International Ltd. gave the lowest range of $468.5 to $478.50 a ton for 100,000 tons of rice.
VINAFood Corp. of Vietnam came in second with an offer of $480 to $487 for 150,000 tons of rice.
Fourteen companies bought bid documents but only 10 submitted proposals, of which only six passed the eligibility and technical screenings.
Besides Daewoo and VINAFood, other bids opened were from Thai Hua Co. Ltd. of Thailand, LG International, Toepfer International Asia Pte Ltd. of Singapore, and Asia Golden Rice of Thailand.
SIAM Indica Co. Ltd., Capital Cereals Co. of Thailand, and Seacor Commodity Trading LLC were disqualified for various reasons.
NFA was looking to buy 250,000 tons of well milled rice, 25 percent brokens, at the tender.
The auction was held to secure stocks for the first quarter of 2010, when the effects of crop damage due to typhoons will be felt.
However, Ludovico Jarina, deputy administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), declined to declare the two bids as winners, saying a formal announcement will have to be made following further review of bids.
Jarina said that the prices at the tender were "good" and hopefully will hold until the end of this year.
Prices next year were unpredictable, he said, given that India had already announced a tender for 30,000 metric tons.
Given this scenario, Jarina said another tender was "possible" if recommended by the interagency committee on rice and corn, which decides NFA imports.
He said there was enough time for another tender within the year if the committee comes up with such a recommendation within the month.
Traders, both participating and observing the tender, said the NFA imposed difficult terms, requiring a minimum volume of 100,000 metric tons, bond equivalent to 10 percent of the awarded value, and 270 days credit from receipt by NFA of a complete set of original documents required for payment.
Jarina said the bidding actually had good results because many bidders qualified despite stricter terms imposed under new implementing rules according to the procurement law.
The Philippines is seen to import about two million tons of rice, with some traders saying this could go up to 3 million considering crop losses due to typhoons and heightened demand in the run-up to elections in 2010.
The country imported about 2.4 million tons of rice in 2008 and this year, and has so far imported 1.775 million tons of rice so far this year, including 200,000 tons allocated to private firms.
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