MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, may import more of the grain if an expected moderate dry spell hits its harvest, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Agriculture Undersecretary Bernardo Fondevilla told a media briefing local weather forecasters were expecting a moderate El Nino would hit the dry cropping season, affecting nearly 544,000 hectares planted to rice.
Asked whether Manila would import more rice due to El Nino, he said: "If we have to, we will." He did not give details.
Fondevilla said a mild El Nino episode may cause farm sector losses of nearly P10 billion ($215 million).
"If the effect is severe, and that is unlikely, then the losses will be greater."
Manila's rice purchases so far for 2010 are seen exceeding 2.4 million tons, a record high, after the government bought nearly 2.3 million from 4 tenders last year and said it would allow private firms to bring in 163,000 tons.
The country advanced imports for this year after losing 1.3 million tons of paddy rice from strong typhoons that ravaged crops in September and October.
The Southeast Asian nation's rice harvest shrank by more than 3% to 16.26 million tons in 2009, the first time output of the national staple dropped since a severe El Nino episode hit the entire archipelago.
The government had forecast paddy output to drop 1.7% to 7.25 million tons in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier due to the dry spell, which the agriculture department had estimated might impact around 50 provinces.
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