Pham Thai
Pham Van Bay, vice chairman of the association, said rice trade had been stagnant in recent months and the gloomy outlook would continue into 2014 due to predicted bumper crops in the world’s key rice exporting countries.
Earlier, in a conference to review rice trade in the January-August period, the association predicted that September rice shipment would be around 650,000 tons, shrink by some 100,000 tons compared to the initial target.
In the third quarter, the country shipped abroad nearly 1.85 million tons, or a shortfall of 230,000 tons against the prediction in early June.
Vietnam’s rice price has taken the downtrend over the months, and is now among the lowest on the global market.
On the rice website Oryza, Vietnam’s 5%-broken rice in the past few days was offered at between US$360 and US$370 a ton, which is lower than the same type of Cambodia by US$75, of Thailand and India by US$70, and of Pakistan by US$30.
The lower-grade 25%-broken rice is now offered by Vietnamese exporters at some US$345 a ton under free-on-board terms, far lower than the level of US$375 suggested by VFA.
Bay of VFA noted that supply was now outpacing demand, so local rice exporters would continue experiencing hardship at least until early 2014.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that Thailand and Vietnam as the two biggest rice exporters would have bumper crops in 2013-2014, with their yields expected to increase by one million tons and 600,000 tons respectively.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s fragrance rice is selling hotly, according to Bay.
Rice processed from jasmine and such strains as ST5 and ST20 are selling for as much as US$900 a ton, as supply is limited. Especially, the japonica rice is being sought after by Chinese traders, Bay said.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
