Vietnamese rice export prices rise three-year high

Export prices for Vietnamese rice rose to their highest level in more than three years this week because of thin stocks, the impact of flooding and speculation about demand from the Philippines for next year, traders said on Wednesday.
The 25 percent broken rice often bought by the Philippines rose to $540-$555 a tonne, free on board (FOB) Saigon Port, from $520 a week ago. In late August 2008 it stood at $580 a tonne, based on Reuters data. Philippine President Benigno Aquino said on Wednesday the country did not need to import more rice for this year's supply despite crop losses from recent typhoons because it had ample stocks.
However, officials have said it was reviewing import plans for 2012. Regional rice prices have also been pushed up in recent weeks in anticipation of sharply higher prices in top exporter Thailand because of a government intervention scheme that came into effect on Friday, October 7.
On Wednesday Vietnam's 5 percent broken rice stood at $575-$590 a tonne, FOB, against $575-$580 a week ago. It touched $580-$590 on Monday. Seasonal floods that arrived in mid-August have caused river levels to rise and hindered boats trying to get under bridges.
Floods have killed 34 people and submerged more than 60,400 homes but crop damage has been limited, with 7,000 hectares destroyed, just 1 percent of the area planted for the third rice crop, a minor annual crop, the government said on Wednesday. Flooding also prevents the operation of rice mills and raises production costs, traders said. Water levels could stay high until the end of this month before receding in November, state forecasters said, allowing the planting of the winter-spring rice crop, Vietnam's biggest, with most of the grain going for export.
Traders in Vietnam said they expected the Philippines and Indonesia, Vietnam's key rice buyers, to start taking deliveries from next February, when Mekong Delta farmers start the winter-spring harvest. Indonesia has overtaken the Philippines to become Vietnam's top rice buyer this year, having bought 961,000 tonnes, or 17 percent of the country's total export volume in the January-August period, followed by the Philippines with 16 percent.