Government said yesterday it will buy 586,554.37 tons of rice from its last tender this year on Dec. 15, slightly less than the volume it sought to purchase due to high bids. Vietnam’s Vinafood 2 secured the contract to bring in the 25 percent broken rice between March and June at $664.9 per ton, National Food Authority (NFA) spokesman Rex Estoperez told Reuters in a phone interview. Manila’s latest purchase brings to 1.82 million tons its total rice orders for 2010. Government is rushing to order imports before prices rise and to make up for lower local production of the grain after strong typhoons in September and October flattened crops.

Officials earlier said the government could top up this total contracted volume by 25 percent, which could raise its total imports to as much as 2.28 million tons based on the contracts awarded so far.

This would be close to the record 2.3 million tons it bought last year which propelled grain prices to all-time highs.

At NFA’s first rice tender for 2010 supply last month, the lowest bid came in at $468.50 per ton. By Dec. 15, the lowest bid price jumped nearly 42 percent to $664.9 per ton.

The sharp increase in bids has prevented the government from ordering the full volume it had sought in three tenders this month.

It wanted to buy 600,000 tons in each weekly tender that ran from Dec. 1 to 15. But it only awarded contracts for 509,950 tons for the Dec. 1 tender and 474,252.70 tons for the Dec. 8 tender. – Reuters