Vietnam raises rice export floor prices

Vietnam has raised export floor prices for its top quality 5-percent broken grain to $430 a tonne from $400 a tonne, an industry group said.

Vietnam has raised export floor prices for its top quality 5-percent broken grain to $430 a tonne from $400 a tonne, an industry group said.

The floor on the common export grade 25 percent broken rice was also raised to $390 a tonne, on free-on-board basis, from $370, and the new rates were in place as of Monday, the Vietnam Food Association said in a statement.

The new floors will be valid for shipment until September, the food association said, without giving any reason for the increase. The previous floor was in place since Aug 11.

The increase, of up to 7.5 percent for the top export quality grain, comes as farmers in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta finish harvesting the summer-autumn crop, the second-largest crop among three in a year.

A government agency that regulates rice exports said last week that Vietnam needs to stick to its annual export target of 6 million tonnes, and exporters should seek higher prices in new deals after loading ends.

The new floor brought rice prices in Vietnam, the world’s second-largest exporter of the grain, closer to quotations by top exporter Thailand, which offered its 5 percent broken rice at $455 a tonne, free-on-board basis, last Wednesday.

Asian rice prices rose last week on strong demand, and the increase may result in Vietnam giving back some share of the white rice market to Thailand, traders said.

Bangladesh said last Friday it will import 100,000 tonnes of 15 percent broken rice from Vietnam’s Vinafood 2 at $389 per tonne in a government-to-government deal, similar to the price it had paid Vinafood 2 for another 100,000 tonnes of the grain. – Reuters

Tags: Vietnam rice, Vietnam Rice prices

Posted by VBN on Aug 24 2010. Filed under Agriculture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry