MANILA - The Philippines may import around 2 million tons of rice next year as damages from typhoons continue to threaten rice supply, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.

Agriculture Undersecretary Bernardo Fondevilla told reporters that the importation would be "around that figure," adding that more assessments would be done to arrive at the final amount.

According to Fondevilla, the DA has not yet determined the actual impact of typhoons on this year's bumper harvest.

Earlier on Thursday, National Food Authority (NFA) Assistant Administrator Jose Cordero said the country may import more than its projected shortfall of P1.14 million tons of rice next year, following the onslaught of 2 storms in the past weeks.

The Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, is expected to have a rice output of 12.108 million tons next year, 1.14 million tons short of the projected consumption of 13.249 million tons.

Tropical storm "Ondoy" (international code name Ketsana) and typhoon "Pepeng" (international code name Parma) damaged more than P5.4 billion worth of the country's palay (paddy rice). More typhoons are expected to hit the Philippines before the year ends.

The Philippines has so far imported 1.775 million tons of milled rice this year, with 1.575 million tons bought by the government and 200,000 tons traded in by the private sector. With a report from Reuters