The country needed 13.57 million metric tons of rice last year, but only produced 12.40 million metric tons.

The government wants to have enough rice stored to prepare for possible shortages before the next harvest.

A man is carrying a sack of rice in Manila.

This decision is different from last year when the Philippines stopped importing rice to help local farmers during the harvest season.

The import stop affected delivery schedules for Vietnamese exporters, so they looked for other buyers.

The Philippines has imported 3.3 million tons of rice this year and will buy more from local farmers to help them.

A rice exporting company in Vietnam said the Philippines' decision will make it easier to sell rice to them.

The company said people in the Philippines like to buy Vietnam's fragrant rice because it is affordable and of good quality.

Vietnam exported 5.5 million tons of rice in the first seven months of the year and earned $2.64 billion.

The Philippines is still Vietnam's biggest buyer of rice, followed by China and Ghana.

El Niño is a natural climate pattern that can cause droughts in Southeast Asia and reduce crop production.