Phl plans to sign 3 deals with Cambodia on rice, other products

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is planning to sign two agreements with Cambodia covering the supply of rice and trade of other agricultural goods.

“There are two agreements being developed. One is for rice imports and there will be another one for cooperation on trade of agricultural goods,” Agriculture assistant secretary Dante Delima said in a telephone interview over the weekend.

Discussions on the two agreements, he said, were held during the visit of Philippine government officials to Cambodia earlier this month.

Under the first agreement, he said, Cambodia will commit to supply 100,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to the Philippines if needed.

“We want the agreement on rice to be signed within the month,” he said.

Through the rice supply agreement, he said Cambodia will become a potential source of rice to be purchased by the country under a government-to-government arrangement.

The country will be purchasing under a government-to-government deal, 120,000 metric tons (MT) of the 500,000 MT total rice imports set for this year.

“By signing an agreement, it doesn’t mean we will buy all the rice from them. It will depend on how competitive the prices are,” Delima said.

National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Angelito Banayo said in a telephone interview the state grains agency can only import rice from countries where the Philippines has existing rice supply agreements with, such as Vietnam and Thailand.

He said that if a rice supply agreement is signed with Cambodia, then the NFA can also get an offer from that country for the rice imports.

“We can buy from all three (Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia) or from just one or two countries. Our decision will depend on the price and their ability to deliver the rice imports,” he said.

All the 500,000 MT of rice imports set for this year, he said, should be in the country by end-June or before the lean months.

The NFA held two auctions for the import rights of 380,000 MT of rice for traders and farmers’ groups last month.

At the March 19 auction, the NFA prequalified 102 rice traders to bring in 190,000 MT of rice, while it prequalified 262 farmers groups to ship another 190,000 MT.

Delima said that apart from the rice supply agreement, the two countries are looking to sign an agreement which will cover the trade of other goods.

“Based on our discussions, they are interested in some items we can export [like] bangus, high-end coffee, sugar, poultry and pork,” he said.

He said the details of the second agreement eyed will still have to be discussed further.

“We want to have that agreement signed by early June,” he added.