The attempt by the Philippines government to buy rice to increase its stocks has failed when a tender attracted just one bid.

The sole bidder, a Vietnam food company, did not qualify as it did not have the correct documents.

The failure of the tender illustrates the tightness in the supply market as countries have suffered shortages and the price of staple foods have soared.

Some countries have limited exports of rice this year to meet domestic demand.

The Philippines is the world's biggest importer of rice.

With world rice prices tripling this year, it has recently had to pay record prices to replenish its stocks.

This time, the National Food Authority (NAO) had offered 32. ... Read full article