Vietnam's Rice Sees High Export Prices
The export prices of Vietnamese rice have started to soar since late last month, according to the Vietnam Food Association (Vietfood).
Vietnam's 5 per cent broken was offered July 1 at US$265-267 per ton, FOB Ho Chi Minh City, while 25 per cent broken was offered at US$248-250 per ton, up around US$12-15 from last month, but still US$30-40 lower than those of Thai rice.
Outstanding contracts involving huge quantities have deterred prices from falling substantially, an official from Vietfood explained.
The official also revealed that domestic enterprises have just inked deals to ship an additional 200,000 tons of rice to the Middle East and South America, increasing the total Vietnamese rice volume contracted for exports to three million tons by the end of June.
Vietnam, the world's second biggest rice exporter, sold abroad over 2.9 million tons of rice worth US$794 million in the first half of this year, posting year-on-year rises of 7.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively
Of the volume, 40 per cent went to the Philippines, 22 per cent to Africa, 12.3 per cent to Cuba and 8.2 per cent to Malaysia, said the Trade Information Center under the Trade Ministry.
The country is expected to export 2.3-2.5 million tons of rice in the second half of this year, said the center.
Vietnam, which shipped abroad more than 5.2 million tons of rice worth nearly US$1.4 billion in 2005, has set the target of producing 38-39 million tons of paddy rice in 2006.
Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
