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The Philippines, one of the world’s largest rice
importers, said Friday prices are softening after Japan offered to
sell rice to Manila amid news of bumper world harvests for 2008.
Large tenders by the Philippines
to fill its expected 2008 production gap of up to 2.7 million tons
have helped drive up prices by 76 percent between December 2007 and
April 2008, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
But the government’s grain
procurement arm, the National Food Authority (NFA), has seen prices
in the international market ease, authority spokesman Tom Escarez
told Agence France-Presse.
“Prices spike every time we
have a large tender. The market became quiet after the tender for
675,000 tons failed and the market realized we were not in a
hurry,” he added.
A letter from Tokyo informing
Manila that between 40,000 and 60,000 tons of Japanese rice is
available also apparently helped calm the market, Escarez said.
The official added that the two
governments are currently negotiating the manner by which the supply
will be procured, which he said would most probably be in the form
of a soft loan or a negotiated supply contract.
The Philippines also expects some
supplies to be offered from Pakistan when the National Food
Authority holds its next tender for about 200,000 tons early next
month, he said.
Press reports this week have said
Pakistan, the world’s fifth-largest rice exporter, was expected to
allow exports of up to a million tons since local requirements have
been met.
“The market price for rice has
softened by about 3 percent,” Escarez said.
Some reports have said that the
market price over the past week has fallen by around 14 percent.
Escarez said Manila is hoping the
trend would continue until August and September, when Thailand, the
world’s largest rice exporter, harvests its current crop.
The FAO said in a statement
released Monday that rice production in Asia, Africa and Latin
America should reach a new record level of 666 million tons in 2008,
up 2.3 percent from a year earlier.
But it forecast that prices could
remain high over the short term, citing the destruction of
Myanmar’s rice-producing areas by Cyclone Nargis.
In an attempt to avoid food
scarcities in their own countries, major rice exporters recently
imposed export bans, taxes or minimum ceilings, while large
importers like the Philippines have reacted with massive auctions.
“These measures further
restricted the availability of rice supplies on international
markets, triggering yet more price rises and tighter supply
conditions. At the moment, only Thailand, Pakistan and the United
States, among leading exporters, are exporting rice without any
constraints,” the FAO statement said.
--AFP
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