|
Rice price to rise as Vietnam wins Philippines export prize
The Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) won a bid to export 150,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines, which, analysts believe it will push up export rice prices.
According to Saigon Tiep Thi, Vinafood 2 won the rice exporting contract at the relatively high price of $480 per tonne - much higher than previous deals.
Therefore, Agroinfo, the information centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, believes the deal will help raise Vietnam’s rice export price in the world market.
Agroinfo also believes that the Philippines’ bid invitation for providing 600,000 tonnes of rice early next month gives Vietnam a competitive edge in terms of export price in comparison with Thailand’s.
Meanwhile, Saigon Tiep Thi quoted Nguyen Dinh Bich, a senior economist as saying Vietnamese businesses should not be too overjoyed by the bid winning, even though the export price of $480 (C&F) is higher than the prices of previous deals.
He said that the rice price keeps rising in the world market. Thai 15 percent broken rice was sold at $451 per tonne in October, while it has jumped to $490 per tonne on November 13 and then to $495 per tonne on November 19, which means a total increase of $44 per tonne (9.8 percent).
Vietnam’s five percent broken rice has also increased from $410 per tonne to $460 per tonne and then $480, representing a record price increase of $70 per tonne (17.1 percent).
The upward tendency has been seen after the Philippines announced plans to import a large volume of rice. Meanwhile, India is facing the risk of crop failure.
Saigon tiep thi quoted foreign sources saying that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on November 18 said India was seeking to purchase two million tonnes of rice.
In the meantime, the Minister of Agriculture of the Philippines has predicted that the world rice price may return to the record price of 2008 due to the bad weather which has made output decrease sharply and has forced a number of countries to import rice.
Agroinfo said, meanwhile, the domestic rice price keeps rising. In the rice granary province of Tien Giang, the retail rice price has increased by another 900 dong to 7,600 dong per kilo. In Dong Thap province, the wholesale price has surged by 450 dong to 7100 dong per kilo.
However, Saigon tiep thi has also said that a quite different scenario may happen. Under the scenario announced by the US Agriculture Department, India may ease the rice price fever. In order to have 16.15 million tonnes of rice which India lacks, it may launch the 7.1 million tonnes from its reserves into the market. Besides, it may also use 6.1 million tonnes of wheat instead of 4.15 million tonnes of rice
If so, the serious rice price fever will be over.
vietnamnet, sgtt
|
