MANILA, Philippines -- Dry weather due to El Niño wiped out 400,000 tons  of unmilled rice in the Philippines, but the world's biggest buyer of the grain has no immediate plans to import, amid ample stocks, a senior official said on Thursday.

The losses were about half of the government's worst estimate. Officials had said 816,372 tons could be lost due to the hotter-than-usual weather.

 "According to reports from local government, it has reached 400,000 tons for unmilled rice," Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas told reporters when asked about the destruction wrought by El Niño on the country's main crop.

But Rudinas said there were no plans at the moment to import more rice given healthy inventories.

Manila ordered a record 2.45 million tons of rice for this year and officials have said the country may be done with its 2010 rice imports given the moderate impact of dry weather on crops. 

The country's rice reserves, held by the state-run National Food Authority, stood at 1.28 million tons by the end of April, good for more than 35 days' consumption.

Lack of demand from the Philippines has weighed on Asian rice prices, with demand elsewhere also thin.

Thailand's benchmark 100%  B grade white rice stands at $465 per ton, down 24%  from levels in December when a series of purchases from the Philippines helped lift prices above $600 a ton.

The 2009/10 El Niño weather pattern, which worsened Australia's drought, caused the failure of last year's monsoon in India, sending food prices soaring, and threatened Southeast Asia's palm oil and rubber crops, has ended, according to Australia's weather bureau.

Rudinas said El Niño had destroyed 500,000 tons of corn in the Philippines, but added that any shortfall could be imported. He gave no figure.