The Philippines wants to finish a planned tender for a total of 500,000 tonnes of rice by the middle of March at the latest to ensure its buffer supply is ready before the lean harvest season starts, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said on Friday. State grains agency the National Food Authority (NFA) has yet to set the bidding date for this year's import volume, all to be brought in by the private sector.
"We expect that within this month the NFA will publish the invitation to bid, so they can start the bidding process," Alcala told reporters. NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo told Reuters it was still in the process of completing the terms of reference for the bidding.
The Southeast Asian country had bought a record 2.45 million tonnes to cover its 2010 needs, making it the world's biggest buyer that year. Last year it reduced the import volume to 860,000 tonnes. The Philippines usually buys about 75 percent of its annual rice import needs from No 2 exporter Vietnam and small volumes from the biggest seller Thailand.
The Vietnam Food Association, which oversees rice exports, cut the export floor price for the 25 percent broken grain to $420 a tonne from $455 a tonne on Wednesday. Traders see prices possibly falling further given rising supply that heat up competition.
Vietnam's floor price was well below the Indian white rice grade, which was quoted unchanged at $455 to $465 per tonne on Wednesday. Vietnam is about to harvest its winter-spring crop, which is expected to produce 11 million tonnes of paddy.
Alcala said shipments of the entire 2012 rice import volume should be completed before July, when the lean harvest season sets in. The Philippines may cut its rice imports to 100,000 tonnes next year as it aims to become self-sufficient in the grain by the end of 2013, Assistant Agriculture Secretary Dante de Lima said on Thursday.
The 2012 import volume may just be enough to cover buffer stock needs, he said, adding that farmers would be encouraged to advance their rainy season rice harvest - the country's biggest crop - by two months to avoid big losses from typhoons that normally arrive in the third quarter.