Philippines Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has revealed that the Philippines is seeking a rice supply deal with Thailand, which is most likely to be finalized next week when Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej visits Philippines.

Yap also said the state-run National Food Authority was carefully evaluating the global situation to correctly time additional rice purchases.

In March, the authorities signed a rice supply deal with Vietnam, which committed to export up to 1.5 million MT of rice to the Philippines.
 
The NFA has so far signed contracts to buy 1.71 million MT out of an import quota of 2.1 million MT for the year.