April 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. vowed to supply the Philippines, the biggest buyer of rice, with as much as it needs after some of the world's largest exporters cut sales to safeguard domestic supplies.

``You are assured absolutely,'' Kristie Kenney, ambassador to the southeast Asian country, told reporters in Bataan province, west of Manila today. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo announced yesterday plans to purchase 1 million tons of the grain and said she would jail anyone found guilty of ``stealing rice from the people.''

The U.S. will help the nation ``weather the ups and downs of the world economy,'' embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a phone interview today. The U.S. called its former colony, which is fighting Muslim separatists in the south of the country, ``a front-line state in the war on terrorism'' in a 2007 congressional research service report.

Rice, the staple food for half the world, has doubled in price in the past year as China, Egypt, Vietnam and India, representing more than a third of global shipments, reduced sales abroad to secure domestic supplies. The price of the cereal in Chicago rose 0.9 percent today to $20.67 per 100 pounds, below the record $21.60 yesterday.

``You might see another 10 or 20 percent move to the upside,'' said Vijay Iyengar, Singapore-based managing director of Agrocorp International Pte., a commodity trading company.

Military Guard

Thailand, the world's biggest supplier of rice, may ask soldiers to help protect some of the 2.1 million metric tons of the grain it has stockpiled amid concern record prices will attract thieves, a government official said. Prices have doubled in the country this year, fueling inflation and hoarding.

Soldiers and other security officials may be assigned to some state warehouses in the coming long weekend, when rice is often stolen, Yanyong Phuangrach, the director general of the Department of Internal Trade, told reporters in Bangkok today. Thai businesses and government offices will be closed between April 14 and 16 for the country's new year celebrations.

The Philippine National Food Authority said today it may add to subsidized rice sold in Manila and the police said they would increase officers at markets and stores to deter violence.

The nation may raise imports of milled rice by as much as 42 percent to 2.7 million tons this year from 1.9 million tons in 2007 to discourage speculation by local traders, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said March 26.

Philippine Imports

The Philippines imported no milled rice from the U.S. in 2007, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report in February.

U.S. rice exports, the third largest behind those of Thailand and Vietnam, were forecast to jump 22 percent to 3.58 million tons in the year ended July 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said March 11.

The cost of Vietnam's rice exports may rise by as much as $200 per ton to $900 in the next two months because of international price gains and the end of the winter-spring crop, Truong Van Anh, director of Long An Food Co., said by telephone from the Mekong-Delta farming region today.

Commodity prices are posting their seventh year of gains, with the UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index of 26 raw materials more than tripling in the past six years as global demand led by China outpaced supplies of metals and crops.

World Riots

Protests over rising food prices may spread as falling stockpiles caused by crop failures and greater use of grains for biofuels stoke inflation globally, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said today. Global food prices increased 57 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the FAO.

``We have seen riots around the world and there's risk that these will spread because of rising prices in countries where 50-60 percent of incomes go to foods,'' FAO Director General Jacques Diouf told reporters in New Delhi. ``The problem is serious.''

Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal have also experienced unrest because of food and fuel prices. The World Bank says 33 countries from Mexico to Yemen may face such problems.

About 500 political activists and textile workers at the Mahallah El-Kobra factory in northern Egypt were arrested and dozens wounded in clashes with police on April 6 as the government clamped down on a one-day national strike to protest against food inflation.

Rising commodity and energy prices have sent unsubsidized food prices in Egypt up 20 percent or more in the past year.

Egyptian Bread

About 85 percent of Egypt's bread, which totals 230 million loaves a day, is subsidized, said Himdan Taha, undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The rising cost of subsidies is damaging the government efforts to cut its budget deficit.

Rising food prices are making life tougher in North Korea, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based senior analyst and non- proliferation expert with the International Crisis Group.

In the spring for the past few years, North Korea has asked South Korea for fertilizer and food assistance and this year they haven't made this request, said Pinkston.

``They believe this would be a sign of weakness,'' he said. ``The sad part of this story is that ultimately the North Korean people will pay the price, so we could see a looming food crisis coming later this year.''

In Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, hypermarket operators will lower retail prices of the cereal between 3 percent and 10 percent next week to control inflation, the Bangkok Post reported.

To contact the reporters for this story: Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net; Marianne Stigset in London at mstigset@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 9, 2008 08:54 EDT