The Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, is studying a possible increase in rice imports this year to fill a potential output gap due to a dry spell caused by the El Niño phenomenon, a senior government official said Wednesday.

Manila has so far contracted to buy 2.25 million tonnes of the national staple, mostly from Vietnam, from four tenders in November and December for delivery until June this year.

Total imports could reach a record 2.4 million tonnes if private firms take up a government offer to bring in 163,000 tonnes under the Philippines' annual country-specific quota.

Asked if the country's rice imports for 2010 would increase further, Agriculture Undersecretary Bernardo Fondevilla told reporters, ''It's possible.''

Fondevilla said an inter-agency panel was studying the country's import needs for the year in the face of a dry spell.

Officials have said they expect a moderate El Niño to hit the country in the first half of the year. In its latest monthly El Niño report, the weather bureau said it has monitored at least one province experiencing drought in the central Philippines, while other areas, including rice-growing provinces on the main island of Luzon, were having dry spells.

The Philippines said last week it could lose more than 800,000 tonnes of paddy rice from a severe drought caused by El Niño, the abnormal warming of waters in the equatorial Pacific that leads to fewer rainfall.

The Southeast Asian country lost 1.3 million tonnes of paddy last year after heavy storms ravaged crops in September and October, forcing it to advance 2010 purchases.

The end of Manila's almost weekly rice tenders in December helped ease Asian rice prices, which are expected to fall further as big producers like Thailand and Vietnam began harvesting.

Thailand's benchmark 100 percent B grade white rice dropped to $580 a tonne last week from $585 in the prior week, with buyers sidelined waiting for prices to fall further. (Reuters)