The Philippines' National Food Authority (NFA) said on Monday that it has set a March 19 tender for permits to import 190,000 tonnes of rice - 38 percent of the approved maximum import volume of 500,000 tonnes for this year.
Private importers will be allowed tariff-free rice purchases in exchange for paying a service fee to the NFA, the state rice procurement agency. The minimum service fee has been set at 100 pesos ($2.34) per 50-kilogram bag of rice. The NFA said a pre-bid conference would be held on March 15, in a notice published in a local newspaper. The Philippines usually buys about 75 percent of its annual rice imports from No 2 exporter Vietnam and small volumes from the biggest seller Thailand.
The price of Vietnam's winter-spring paddy, most of which is intended for export, has dropped to 5,000-6,300 dong (24-30 US cents) per kg in recent weeks from 5,300-6,300 dong in mid-February, weighed down by thin demand and ample supply.
Vietnam has allowed rice exporters to stockpile the equivalent of 1 million tonnes of milled rice for three months to prevent prices from falling during the harvest peak for the Mekong Delta from March 15. Philippine Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said last month that shipments for this year's rice imports should be completed before July, when the lean harvest season begins.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.