MANILA, Philippines - The country is unlikely to import more rice this year unless crops are damaged by strong typhoons in the second half, Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla said on Friday. Manila, the world's biggest rice buyer, had purchased a record 2.45 million tons of rice for 2010, allowing it to boost inventory even as first-quarter production dropped on drier-than-normal weather. Lack of demand from the Philippines has dragged down Asian rice prices, with benchmark Thai rice falling around 27% from levels last December when a series of purchases by Manila helped lift prices above $600 a ton.

 "For the rest of the year, barring any major damages, there may be no more importation," Fondevilla told reporters, when asked about the country's rice purchase plans.

The National Food Authority, the state's grain importing arm, said in April it has completed rice imports for 2010 and its next purchases will be for 2011 needs, citing healthy stockpiles.

The Philippines, which imports around a tenth of its annual rice requirement, usually starts buying the grain from the international market during the last quarter of the year to fill in needs for the following year.

Fondevilla said he was confident production can rebound in the second half of 2010, unless crops are damaged by strong typhoons, allowing the government to meet its production target of a record 17.4 million tons of unmilled rice, up 7% from 2009.

Fondevilla also said full-year farm output was likely to grow 2.5% despite the El Niño drought earlier in the year. Farm production accounts for around a fifth of the Southeast Asian nation's economy.

But production of paddy, or unhusked rice, fell 11.4% from a year earlier to 3.49 million tons in January to March, and is forecast to drop further over the next six months, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics said last month.