The Philippines is set to import 500,000 tonnes of rice via government-to-government (G2G) deals this year, the country’s Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agriculture Modernisation Francis Pangilinan N said.

The Philippines’ National Food Authority (NFA) called for bids and invited Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to submit their price offers by September 15.

Under its new policy, NFA only accepts offers for more than 200,000 tonnes. The supplier with the lowest price wins the bid, the authority said.

Previously, the NFA launched a bid for 500,000 tonnes of rice on August 27. However, the bid was unsuccessful due to the suppliers’ high prices, which exceeded the ceiling price of the Philippine government.

The four foreign suppliers made offers of 460-496.75 USD per tonne, exceeding the approved budget of 456.60 USD per tonne, NFA said.

The authority also added that the Louis Dreyfus group had offered the lowest price of 460 USD per tonne for two shipments of 25,000 tonnes on August 27.-VNA