Philippines Thai Rice Deal Likely By Mid June

Philippines Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has revealed that The Philippines is most likely to sign a rice supply agreement with Thailand in a couple of weeks time.

According to Yap, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej committed during his two-day visit to the country last week to supply an unspecified volume of rice to the Philippines if the country needed it.

The state-run National Food Authority has already imported sufficient volumes to tide the country over the lean production months of July to September, and any additional imports will be for buffer stocks during the last quarter of the year.
 
The NFA has so far signed contracts to import 1.71 million MT out of an import quota of 2.1 million MT.