The Philippines may need to import as much as 3 million tons of rice next year if abnormal climatic conditions would slash country's rice production, an official said on Monday.
National Food Authority (NFA) Rex Estoperez said on Monday that erratic weather patterns have made it harder for the government to estimate its current rice supply.
Importing three million tons is the "worst case scenario", according to Estoperez.
"We don't know what would hit us next year or if we won't have problems with the summer harvest," Estoperez told reporters.
Typhoons Ketsana and Parma, which swept the country last month, damaged 1.3 million tons of paddy rice.
Estoperez estimated milled rice production for 2009 will hit 10.6 million tons. This will not be enough to meet the over 13 million tons of estimated demand for milled rice for 2010.
The state-owned NFA was authorized to import as much as 2.4 million tons to meet domestic demand in 2010.
"(This figure) is our moving target. It could still change," Estoperez said./.