Philippines rice imports in 2010 may reach 2.25 million tons

According to Jose Cordero, deputy director of the Philippines' National Food Authority, rice imports next year may reach 2.25 million tons, because recent strong typhoons caused severe damage to the rice crop. He said about 1.3 million tons of rice were affected, equivalent to 845,000 tons of milled rice. The rice supply-demand gap for the full year may be around 1.4 million tons. Cordero said this is the expected import volume. However, the government will finalize the scale of next year's rice imports this week. The import volume of 2.25 million tons is close to the record import level of 2.3 million tons in 2008. However, traders expect the Philippines' rice imports next year to reach as high as 3 million tons. Jarina said the Philippines will also import rice next year through government-to-government deals. The Philippines has already signed a bilateral agreement with Vietnam, under which Vietnam committed to supply 1.5 million tons of rice to the Philippines each year for three years starting in 2009.