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Thailand, Vietnam to stabilise rice prices
The world’s two major rice exporters, Vietnam and Thailand, will take measures to stabilize the price of rice, which has been decreasing during the last four weeks.
The falling price of rice is said to be caused by the Thai government’s decision to sell rice from its storage depot. Another reason is that Africa and the Philippines have stopped importing rice after buying large amounts in 2009.
In Thailand, the second crop is being harvested with an estimated output of seven million tonnes. The supply of rice in this country will reach its peak in April, said Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Thailand’s grade B rice was listed at US$530 per tonne on February 24, down US$30 compared to last week, while exporters are offering the government’s five-percent broken rice at US$423 per tonne, much lower than the current market price of US$505 per tonne.
In Vietnam, declining demand and the abundant supply of rice have caused an eight-percent decrease in price. Although the 25-percent broken rice was offered at US$360-380 per tonne, falling by US$35-50 compared to the previous two weeks, almost no transactions have been made as buyers are still waiting for another price decrease.
According to the Vietnam Food Association, export businesses will buy about a million tonnes of rice in order to control the fall in price.
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