MANILA, Philippines—The government expects to clinch a favorable rice deal with Vietnam in a week to boost the national stockpile, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Friday.

The government is expected to take advantage of a recent drop in international prices to beef up stocks of the staple.

Yap said at a news briefing that representatives of the Vietnamese government had submitted price quotations and volumes on the Philippine government’s invitation.

He declined to disclose the volumes and prices. “We cannot comment further because negotiations are ongoing,” he said.

He said the government was holding out for better conditions and would make a decision on a deal in seven days.

Yap said that a few weeks ago the Philippines sent out invitations to the world’s major rice suppliers—Vietnam, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan and the United States—for a government-to-government deal, and only Vietnam made an offer.

He said none of the other countries had indicated “that they won’t supply ... it’s a state of continuous negotiations.”

He said agriculture officials “are satisfied with the offer” from Vietnam “but we will still see if we can negotiate better terms and prices from Vietnam.”

He said Vietnam’s offer came as part of a Philippine-Vietnam agreement signed earlier this year in which Vietnam pledged to supply as much as 1.5 million tons to the Philippines if and when possible.

So far, the government has imported around 1.7 million tons of rice, mainly from Vietnam and Thailand, for about $1 billion. It wants to import around 2.1 million tons for this year.

Benchmark Thai rice prices fell to about $820 per ton FOB earlier this week, continuing a decline from a peak of about $1,080 in April. Amy R. Remo, with a report from Reuters; edited by INQUIRER.net