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RP buys below rice tender volume

HIGHER RICE PRICES have pushed the government to lower the volume of grain it plans to buy abroad. In its tender on Dec. 8, the third of four rice auctions for 2010 supply, the government originally sought 600,000 tons of rice. The National Food Authority (NFA), which conducts the auctions, yesterday awarded only 474,252.70 metric tons out of the tender volume. The NFA is importing 249,252.70 tons from Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood2) at $618.95 to $692.50 a ton (100,000 tons at $618.95; 100,000 tons at $689.75; and the balance at $692.50). The grains authority is buying an additional 125,000 tons from Toepfer International Asia Pte Ltd. at $689.38 and 100,000 tons from Daewoo International Corp. at $668.50.This is the second rice tender for 2010 supply where high prices have forced the grains authority to buy below the tender volume due to high prices and a budget constraint.In its tender on Dec. 1, the NFA awarded contracts for the supply of 509,950 tons at a price range of $598 to $653 per ton. The original volume tendered was also 600,000 tons.The NFA budget for each of the Dec. 1 and 8 tenders was P15.26 billion.On Nov. 4, the NFA bid out supply for 250,000 tons of the cereal and was able to award the full volume. The winning bids were priced at $468.50 and $480 a ton.In its fourth tender on Dec. 15, the government raised its budget to P18.525 billion from P15.26 billion, noting that rice prices had gone up.The Philippines, considered to be the world’s top importer of rice, imports about 10 percent of its grain requirements. It bought 2.4 million tons of rice from abroad in 2008 and 1.775 million tons in 2009.NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro said the rice imports for 2010 supply was needed to offset storm-related crop damage during the main harvest season.According to estimates from the Department of Agriculture, the country lost some 1.3 million tons of palay (unmilled rice) or an equivalent of 850,000 tons of white rice.Because of this, the government decided to hold early tenders for a total of 2.05 million tons of rice out of the import ceiling of 2.4 million tons for 2010.

 

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