Philippines To Import 1.5 Mil MT In 2009

According to Philippine's Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul, improvement in rice production locally has prompted the government to target rice importation for 2009 at around 1.5 million MT lower than this year’s 2.3 million MT.

This even as the government increased the volume of rice it sold to the public in the second quarter of the year after prices of rice in the world market surge to record high along with the prices of oil.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government would provide a minimum of P18 billion for the state-run grain agency to boost its capacity to buy high from rice farmers and selling the item low to poor Filipino as it was mandated.