The Philippines faces shortage of over 500,000 metric tons of rice this year after Vietnam pledged to ship only 1 million tons of the 1.5 million tons requested by President Arroyo. The country expects production shortfall of 1.5-1.8 million tons of rice this year amidst tight global supply and rising prices. Reuters reported that Vietnam media said that the shipment is more than a quarter less than delivered last year.

The An Ninh Thu Do newspaper quoted Industry Nguyen Thanh Bien and other ministry officials attending a rice export conference in Hanoi as saying priority would be given to large volume buyers and traditional customers, including the Philippines and Cuba.

Vietnam shipped 4.5 million tons of rice last year, of which 1.4 million tons went to the Philippines.

On Wednesday rice prices in Vietnam climbed to a record $550 a ton free on board Saigon port, almost double last year, but sales were slow as a curb on new non-government export deals rolled over into March.

"The government wanted to keep the rice to make sure it has enough to supply to the Philippines under government contracts," a trader said.

Earlier this year, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo went outside normal commercial channels to ask Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung about securing rice, an exceptional move that highlighted growing global anxiety over how nations will feed their people as commodity prices climb.