Price offers at the Philippine rice tender Thursday were up 60% from contracts signed in March with offers made by Vietnamese suppliers the highest compared to those from Thailand and Pakistan.

Prices at the National Food Authority auction mostly exceeded $1,100 PMT, C&F from an average contract price of around $700 PMT in mid-March.

Traders said that prices could rise further by around 40% at the Philippine tender scheduled for May 5 for up to 500,000 MT of the grain.

The NFA announced its plan to hold a tender on May 5 even before it concluded the latest tender.