Rice export prices rose this week in Thailand and Vietnam boosted by a recent deal with Indonesia, while robust demand pushed up rates in top exporter India. Indonesian state food procurement agency Bulog bought about 500,000 tonnes of rice, of which 300,000 tonnes will be sourced from Vietnam and 200,000 tonnes from Thailand, in deals agreed last week, European traders said on March 29.
Thai benchmark 5 percent broken rice jumped to $430-$448 per tonne this week, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, from last week's $415-$435, following the deal with Indonesia. "Prices went up this week because some Thai exporters were said to have sold rice to the Indonesian government," a Bangkok-based trader said. Another trader in Bangkok said some Thai exporters have started buying rice to fill stocks while others stayed put in a relatively quiet market.
"They probably have some new orders, and it is speculated that prices will be even higher if they wait," he said. "As for me, all my clients stay away, because prices are too high. They choose to wait and see." In Vietnam, prices rose for a second straight week, buoyed by the Indonesian deal, amid speculation that the country would soon sign fresh deals with the Philippines.
Rates for the country's 5 percent broken rice variety rose to $425-$430 a tonne from $410-$428 a week earlier. "We have heard that the Philippines will soon open a bidding round to import 250,000 tonnes of rice, possibly later this week or next week," a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader said. "I think prices will remain high on increasing demand, though the winter-spring harvest is peaking."
In India, rates for the 5 percent broken parboiled variety rose by $2 per tonne to $427-$431 as demand remained high amid thin supplies. "Demand has improved from African buyers", said an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, imports from neighbouring Bangladesh, which has emerged as a major rice buyer since 2017 after floods damaged its crops, will slow in the coming months as there is no fresh demand, said Badrul Hasan, head of Bangladesh's state grain buyer.
"Our reserves are satisfactory and selling of subsidised rice is continuing to cool prices in domestic markets." Rice at government warehouses stood at nearly 1 million tonnes, boosted by record imports of more than 3.5 million tonnes in the nine months to March, Bangladesh's food ministry data showed this week.
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