Philippines gives nod to Thai rice bid

Philippines gives nod to Thai rice bid

Thailand yesterday won a bid to supply 100,000 tonnes of 25% white rice at US$424.85 a tonne to the Philippines, with delivery scheduled for September and October.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, the commerce permanent secretary, said the price included freight, insurance and other costs.

Thailand vied with Vietnam and Cambodia to sell rice to the Philippines, which called bids for 250,000 tonnes of white rice.

Vietnam won a bid to supply the remaining 150,000 tonnes at the same price.

The auction, the first under the two-month-old government of President Rodrigo Duterte, is part of plans to import up to 1 million tonnes of rice to secure supplies of the staple through next year while prices are low.

Of the total, 750,000 tonnes will be purchased through government-to-government deals and 250,000 tonnes will be imported by private companies.

Under government-to-government transactions, the Philippines usually buys rice from either Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia.

Manila's plan could support global rice prices, which have dropped amid lean demand from the rest of Asia and Africa. Benchmark prices in major suppliers Vietnam and Thailand are at multi-month lows.

Nonetheless, the planned rice purchase, if it goes forward, will be smaller than the Philippines' imported volume of 1.8 million tonnes for 2015.

According to Ms Chutima, Manila initially rejected Thailand's higher bid of $432 a tonne and asked for a revised offer in line with the reference price of $425.

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