Indian rice prices edged down a little over the holiday period and remain far lower than the grain in Thailand and Vietnam, which should ensure that India remains the only seller in the market for the time being, traders said on Wednesday. After lifting a four-year ban on rice exports in September, India is believed to have shipped 1.0-1.2 million tonnes, they said.
In contrast, demand for Thai rice has dried up and the Vietnamese authorities have deterred would-be buyers by putting a floor under sale prices there. India's common white rice grades were quoted at $415-$435 per tonne, free on board, down from $430 to $450 late December.
The Vietnam Food Association has put an official floor of $500 a tonne under the same grade of 5 percent broken rice. In Thailand the price is even higher at $540, held up by a government intervention scheme. "At this moment, Thailand and Vietnam can do nothing except watch India selling its rice," said a Bangkok-based trader. India, the world's second-biggest rice producer, is sitting on huge stockpiles and heading for a bumper harvest for the second year in a row. On December 1, rice stocks at government warehouses stood at 27.1 million tonnes against a target of 5.2 million tonnes.
India's summer rice production is expected to be 87.1 million tonnes in the current crop year (2011/12) as compared to 80.65 million tonnes the previous year, farm ministry data showed. The main rice grades in Thailand and Vietnam, the world's top two rice exporters, were offered at lower prices on Wednesday due to thin demand.
But traders said the prices were purely indicative and there was no trade since the authorities were sticking to unrealistically high levels. The benchmark 100 percent B grade Thai white rice fell to $560 per tonne from last week's $580 per tonne and was around its lowest level since August 2011, when a new government took office after promising farmers sharply higher prices for their grain.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.