Philippines may increase rice imports after typhoon Haiyan
The
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier estimated the
Philippines will buy 1.1 million metric tonnes of grain this year,
lower than last year's 1.4 million metric tonnes.
Samarendu
Mohanty was quoted by news agencies on November 11 as saying that the
Philippines may not have enough inventory to handle rice shortages
caused by the typhoon. Rice imports may increase, pushing purchases
above an estimate of 1.1 million metric tonnes by the USDA.
According to preliminary data from the Department of Agriculture,
typhoon Haiyan claimed a total of 138.6 million peso worth of crops
being grown in the Bicol and Mimaropa regions.
As of November 9,
typhoon Haiyan wasted a total of 9,857 metric tonnes of rice, corn and
high-value crops in some 5,500 hectares of farmland.-VNA