HANOI - Vietnam and the Philippines may have discussed a deal involving the shipment of as much as 500,000 tons of Vietnamese rice next year, traders in Vietnam said on Wednesday.Last week, they said the Philippines wanted to buy the 25-percent broken rice from Vinafood 2, Vietnam's largest rice exporter, at $380 a ton, cost and freight, for shipment from late January.The Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, was asking for "a very low price" and shipment could be delayed to start next February, a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.

"The potential shipment delay has eased prices a bit in Vietnam," he said.

A Vinafood 2 senior official was in Manila for possible talks with the National Food Authority, another trader in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest grain trading market, said.

Officials at Vinafood 2 and NFA, the Philippines grain importing arm, were not immediately available for comment.

The Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer this year, bought 2.3 million tons of the grain to fill a production gap, helping drive up benchmark Asian rice prices to record levels.

Last month it said it could return to the market in December or January.