Asian rice prices weak on Chinese purchase of Vietnamese grain

Asian rice prices were largely subdued this week on thin buying demand despite purchase of Vietnamese grain by China and the likelihood of demand emerging from the Philippines, traders said on Wednesday. The Thai market also remained dull, with quotations steady even after the commerce ministry cited a smaller harvest and also said the country's trade talks with Malaysia and Indonesia will support prices.
Thai benchmark 5 percent broken rice stood unchanged in the past week at $350-$354 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) basis. "There is no demand, so the market is rather quiet," a trader in Bangkok said.
Vietnamese rice prices eased after a short rally last week at the end of the Mekong Delta crop harvest while most buyers were looking at Thai or Pakistani grain, traders said. Demand has improved just recently after China resumed its grain imports via cross-border trade earlier this month, Vietnam's agriculture ministry said in its October report. Vietnam's 5 percent broken rice prices narrowed to $350 a tonne, FOB basis, against $350-$355 a week ago, of which $355 was the highest since August 31.
"Vietnamese rice has now lost its competitive edge against Thai rice," a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said, citing similar quotations of Thai rice. Vietnamese traders said they were monitoring possible demand by the Philippines, which is assessing the country's rice supply and will decide shortly if more imports are needed. Vietnam's January-October rice exports will drop 21.2 percent from a year ago to an estimated 4.22 million tonnes, mostly sold to China, Ghana and the Philippines, the agriculture ministry said.
In India, the world's top rice exporter, the 5-percent broken parboiled rice prices edged down to $364-$374 per tonne, from $367-$377 last Wednesday due to sluggish export demand and on expectations of a bumper crop. "Since prices are correcting, some buyers are delaying purchases expecting further drops," said an exporter based at Kakinada in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
"Expectations of a bumper Indian crop are also putting pressure on prices," he added. India's non-basmati rice exports in April to August, the first five months of its fiscal year, edged up 0.8 percent from a year ago to 3 million tonnes. Thailand's shipment so far this year hit 7.9 million tonnes, nearing its goal of 9.5 million tonnes.