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Manila: The Philippines will hold a tender for private importers for 341,440 tonnes of rice, possibly on June 5, the state's National Food Authority (NFA) said on Friday.
NFA spokesman Tomas Escarez said the volume being sought included 141,440 tonnes that was not taken by the private sector at a May 9 tender and the fresh amount of 200,000 tonnes that was previously announced by the NFA.
While June 5 was a likely date for the tender, a final decision would be taken later in May, Escarez said.
Escarez said the tender for the 141,440 tonnes would be subject to prevailing country quotas, which meant imports would be limited to Thailand, India, China and Australia.
For the remaining 200,000 tonnes, private traders may import from the country of their choice, Escarez said.
Service fee
Instead of paying an import tariff of 50 per cent on the rice, private traders would have to pay a service fee, NFA officials earlier said. The tariff was dismantled to encourage more private buyers, but interest at these auctions is lukewarm because of high world prices.
At the May 9 tender, private traders and groups offered to buy 21,560 tonnes, out of a total of 163,000 tonnes on offer, as many chose not to participate because of record high prices.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has repeatedly said the country has bought enough imported rice to meet domestic demand and that the remaining tenders will go to boosting buffer stocks.
So far this year, the Philippines has spent around $1 billion buying 1.7 million tonnes of rice, mainly from Vietnam and Thailand.
The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, says it needs to import 2.2 million tonnes of rice in 2008, but it was not in a hurry to go back to the market after the NFA scrapped a tender to buy 675,000 tonnes of rice on its own account on May 5.
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