Philippines Seeking Rice Loan From United States

Officials of the Philippines National Food Authority have revealed that Philippines is currently negotiating for a loan of at least $60 million from the United States in order to help increase its domestic rice supplies.

Philippines Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap is negotiating with officials from the USDA for such a commodity loan under a U.S. export credit guarantee called GSM-102.

If granted, a commodity loan of $60 million would translate to around 100,000 MT of the grain, involving the 5% broken long grain.

In September last year, the Philippines bought 44,000 MT of rice from the U.S. worth $20 million under the previous program.