Rice prices in India were mostly unchanged this week, despite a weaker rupee allowing exporters to lower their offers, while tepid demand kept export rates in check in Vietnam and Thailand. In top exporter India, rates for 5 percent broken parboiled rice were unchanged at $389-$393 per tonne. "Rupee depreciation is helping us offer competitive prices but demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian rupee has lost nine percent so far in 2018 and is trading near a record low, increasing exporters' returns from overseas sales. Meanwhile, neighbouring Bangladesh, which had emerged as a major importer of rice since 2017 after floods damaged its crops, stepped up local procurement to shore up government reserves.
"We are getting a good response from farmers as production revived this year," a food ministry official said. In Vietnam, rates for the 5 percent broken variety were in $395-$400 per tonne range for a third straight week. "Trade is slow, but traders are interested in rumours about possible new deals with Indonesia and the Philippines," a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader said. The Vietnamese government on Tuesday said it had eased restrictions on rice exports in a bid to boost shipments. The government said in a statement it had abolished a regulation that required a rice exporting company to have a warehouse with a capacity of holding at least 5,000 tonnes of paddy and a mill capable of unhusking at least 10 tonnes of paddy an hour.
Traders, however, said the government's move was merely a procedural step. "I don't think that the removal of the regulation will have any real impact on export volumes, which largely depend on demand and supply, and prices," another trader said.
Elsewhere, Thailand's benchmark 5 percent broken rice was quoted at $390-$395, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, little changed from last week's $390-$393. Traders attributed the small price fluctuation to a stronger baht this week, saying there was no fresh demand from overseas.
Parts of Thailand have been affected by seasonal floods, including a jasmine rice cultivation area in the northeast, but traders said the floods had not impacted prices yet. "The flood has not affected supply yet and it may be weeks from now before we see the extent of the damage, if any," said a Bangkok-based rice trader.
Thai rice farmers usually plant their crop in August for the in-season rice which is harvested at the end of the year. The commerce ministry earlier this week said Thailand had exported about 7.1 million tonnes of rice from January to August this year, a 2.6 percent increase from a year earlier.
Comments
Comments are closed.