The United States Department of Agriculture reported that the volume of rice that the Philippine imports may reach an all-time high owing to the multibillion worth of damages caused by recent typhoons.
Based on its latest report on global rice market and trade posted at its website , the "Philippines' imports are boosted 200,000 tons to a record 2.6 million for 2010 on typhoon-related damages to the rice crop."
However, the Philippine Department of Agriculture refused to confirm the data.
"I'm not at liberty to divulge any information on rice importation. I'm not sure where they got their figures so we really have to check on that first," DA Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said in an interview.
The National Food Authority has earlier announced an importation of not less than 850,000 MT to secure supply for 2010.
A first tender of 250,000 MT was awarded to state-owned Vina Southern Food 2 and Daewoo International Corp. that will arrive in several tranches starting January until April 2010.
A second tender which will be the country's biggest importation volume in a single tender seeks to bring in as much as 600,000 MT rice. The auction will be on December 1, 2010.
Ludivico Jarina, deputy administrator of the National Food Authority, said the good prices quoted by traders during the previous tender is an indication that the government may continue buying rice through open bidding.
The Inter-Agency on Rice and Corn (IAC), a government agency that evaluates rice and corn performance quarterly, has yet to announce the final volume for rice importation.
Government officials said the early importation was due to the damages caused by strong typhoons. The government maintains that damaged rice crop amounted to about 700,000 MT only, significantly lower than the figures cited by the private sector which is about 1.1 million MT.
The Agriculture Department has twice cut rice production forecast for next year. From an original forecast of 17.4 million MT, output was decreased to 17 million MT and further reduced to 16.9 million MT just recently.
So far, the Philippines' paddy rice production from January to September stands at 10.819 MMT. Unmilled rice production for October to December, however, will be lower by 12 percent due to the damages caused by the typhoons. The Department projected paddy rice production for the fourth quarter at 6.48 MMT.
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