Philippines No Longer Keen On Buying US Rice

May 03,2007 00:00 by dailynews

The Philippines is no longer keen on buying rice from the United States as prospective suppliers aren't willing to undertake a test that would keep out genetically modified strains. The National Food Authority, the country's state grain trading firm, has conducted two failed auctions since late last year in a bid to buy U.S. rice.

The NFA had planned to buy around 65,000 MT from the U.S. for shipment within the first half of the year. The Philippine requirement for biotech testing follows tests conducted by the European Commission in 2006 which showed that U.S. rice exports to Europe contained an illegal genetically modified strain.

Philippine rice imports from the U.S. are financed under Washington's Public Law 480 soft commodity loan program. Instead of rice, the Philippines is now considering to buy either yellow corn or soybeans.