Vietnam Rice Export Prices on the Rise

Vietnam Rice Export Prices on the Rise

Vietnam's rice export price, the world's second largest rice exporter, are increasing by USUS$2-3 a ton, standing at USUS$266-267 a ton for 5 per cent broken, FOB Saigon Port basis on March 23, while 25 per cent broken were offering at USUS$254 a ton.

The higher indexes for Vietnamese export rice were attributed to the late harvests of the country’s main winter-spring rice crop and holding back of local farmers for better prices, rice traders in Ho Chi Minh City said.

"Farmers in the delta have almost finished their harvesting activities in the fields, and they tend to hold their stocks for higher prices in the later months," said a trader, noting that the current winter-spring paddy crop is the country's most important rice crop, which will supply more than half of Vietnam's rice export volume for this year.

Meanwhile, the international demands for Vietnamese rice are also increasing. This week, six vessels are waiting in a Saigon port to load a total of 66,650 tons of rice for shipment to Cuba and the Philippines.

Thailand, Vietnam’s major rice exporting rival, also reported difficulties in available supply due to its increasing domestic prices and the Thai government will not sell 5 million tons of rice it has in stockpiles before May this year. Thai rice for exports were offering at USUS$296-297a ton, USUS$20-30 a ton higher than that of Vietnam.

The prices of paddy rice in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam's largest rice growing area for exports, also gained VND50-100 a kilo to around VND2,300 a kilo in An Giang, VND2,400 in Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Tra Vinh. The region is estimated to harvest around around 8.766 million tons of paddy rice, up 160,000 tons against the last crop.

Vietnam has so far this year sold abroad 876,000 tons of rice, up 160,000 tons against the same period last year. It plans to export around 2.3 million tons of rice in the first six months of this year.

In related news, the National Food Authority of the Philippines (NFA) is negotiating with Vietnamese rice exporters, who were awarded contracts earlier this month to supply 400,000 tons, to buy an additional 100,000 tons of rice. Early this month, the NFA bought 350,000 tons of Vietnamese rice and 50,000 tons of Thai rice at USUS$283.91 to USUS$293.47 a ton, CIF basis, for shipment between April and May.
VietnamNet, VNA