By Amy R. RemoPhilippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines--The United States Department of Agriculture last week increased by $10 million its credit export guarantee for the Philippines under the GSM-102 program, bringing the total amount of guarantee to $75 million.
According to Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, this would translate to some 95,000 metric tons to 100,000 MT of rice that the country can import.
"This volume is currently being tendered, but we expect rice shipments to arrive within the next four to five months, or August at the latest," he added.
Yap first announced the country's interest to avail itself of a credit export guarantee during the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference held earlier this month.
Initially, the Philippines had sought to procure rice worth $65 million. Under the program, the local National Food Authority is the lone approved buyer of the rice.
In a statement posted on its website, the USDA explained that the GSM-102 program helps ensure that credit is available to finance commercial exports of US agricultural products to developing countries, while providing competitive credit terms of up to three years in these countries.
Under this program, the USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. reduces the financial risk to lenders by guaranteeing payments due from approved foreign banks to exporters or financial institutions in the United States.
These guarantees encourage exports to buyers in countries where credit is necessary to maintain or increase US sales, but where financing may not be available, it added.
Under the GSM-102, sales must be registered with CCC by April 18 this year. Exporters' contractual arrangements should call for exports no later than Nov. 30, 2008.
MANILA, Philippines--The United States Department of Agriculture last week increased by $10 million its credit export guarantee for the Philippines under the GSM-102 program, bringing the total amount of guarantee to $75 million.
According to Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, this would translate to some 95,000 metric tons to 100,000 MT of rice that the country can import.
"This volume is currently being tendered, but we expect rice shipments to arrive within the next four to five months, or August at the latest," he added.
Yap first announced the country's interest to avail itself of a credit export guarantee during the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference held earlier this month.
Initially, the Philippines had sought to procure rice worth $65 million. Under the program, the local National Food Authority is the lone approved buyer of the rice.
In a statement posted on its website, the USDA explained that the GSM-102 program helps ensure that credit is available to finance commercial exports of US agricultural products to developing countries, while providing competitive credit terms of up to three years in these countries.
Under this program, the USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. reduces the financial risk to lenders by guaranteeing payments due from approved foreign banks to exporters or financial institutions in the United States.
These guarantees encourage exports to buyers in countries where credit is necessary to maintain or increase US sales, but where financing may not be available, it added.
Under the GSM-102, sales must be registered with CCC by April 18 this year. Exporters' contractual arrangements should call for exports no later than Nov. 30, 2008.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment