Vietnamese rice prices rose on Wednesday due to low stocks while prices eased in India and Thailand on thin demand and rising supplies, traders said. Indicative prices of Vietnam's 25-percent broken rice advanced to $340 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) basis, from $335 a week ago, and the 5-percent broken rice rose to $350-$355 a tonne, against $350 last Wednesday.
"There is not enough broken rice to make the 25-percent broken grade," a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said. However, lower price of Thai rice has made Vietnamese rice look less attractive, a trader in Bangkok said. "If buyers decide to buy rice now, it will be Thai rice," he said.
China, Vietnam's top rice buyer, resumed cross-border purchases last month, but has not yet imported much, traders said. "There are some supplies from a minor crop coming, and given Thai prices have fallen, Vietnam is in a very difficult position," the first trader said. African buyers have switched to cheaper grain offered by Pakistan and Thailand, traders added.
Thai benchmark 5-percent broken rice dropped to $345-$350 a tonne on Wednesday, FOB basis, from $350-$354 last week, as supplies mounted. At $345, the price is in the zone of the lowest in 13 months hit on Monday. "There is little demand coming from foreign markets," a trader in Bangkok said, adding that buyers could start taking Thai rice when prices dipped further.
Thailand's annual harvest is currently underway, with 80 percent of output expected to be reaped in November, the commerce ministry has said. The average price of Pakistan's 25-percent broken rice stood at $331 a tonne during January-September, below Vietnam's price of $335 of the same grade, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. In India, the world's biggest exporter of the grain, prices of 5-percent broken parboiled rice dropped $6 this week to $358-$368 a tonne on sluggish demand and rising supplies from new season crop.
"Supplies have started from the new season crop in most key producing states, but export demand is still weak," said an exporter in Kakinada in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh. "Prices could fall further in coming weeks as supplies are expected to build up," he added.
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