MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines will continue to buy rice on the international market to build local inventories in preparation for possible weather calamities during the typhoon season, the agriculture chief said Wednesday.

The world's top rice importer has so far contracted 1.7 million tons of the staple to fill a 10-percent domestic production gap despite tight global supplies and record high prices.

"We will continue to be aggressive," Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said. "Our policy has been to go on an active procurement, active engagement of suppliers."

He said the state-run grain importer, the National Food Authority, still needs to import around 675,000 tons of rice as buffer stocks for the last quarter of the year.

The onset of the rainy season in May and June is expected to usher in destructive typhoons that frequently ravage rice paddies and diminish local supplies. About 20 typhoons hit the archipelago every year.

A Monday auction for 675,000 tons of rice failed because only one bidder, from Vietnam, submitted an offer.

The government decided not to set a date for another public tender. Yap said Tuesday that Asian exporters Thailand and Vietnam have expressed concern that the Philippines' aggressive buying was driving up prices.

He said other options included government-to-government deals.

Rice prices have tripled this year, with the regional benchmark hitting US$1,000 a ton for 100 percent Grade B white rice.