Vietnam rice prices firm

Vietnamese rice prices have firmed more than 1 percent after the Philippines said this week it would import an additional 100,000 tonnes of the grain, traders said on Wednesday. They added rice prices in Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter of the grain, would climb further in April when loading starts for Philippine shipments, despite plentiful arrivals from the country's top-yielding crop.
"It will be harder to buy rice when all the big firms start stocking up to fulfil the Philippine order," said a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City.
Manila bought 400,000 tonnes of rice via a tender early this month, 350,000 tonnes from Vietnam and the remaining from Thailand, for deliveries in April and May.
A Manila official said on Tuesday that the latest order of 100,000 tonnes of rice would also be on the terms and prices similar to those in the purchase of 400,000 tonnes.
On Wednesday, Vietnamese 5 percent broken rice firmed to $255 a tonne, free on board, at Saigon Port, from $251-$252 last week. The 25 percent broken grade was quoted at $245 a tonne, free on board, up from around $241 a week ago.
"We expect robust demand from the Philippines into the second quarter," said another trader in Ho Chi Minh City.
Officials estimate that the Philippines, a key buyer of Vietnamese rice, needs to import up to 1.6 million tonnes of the grain this year to fill a shortfall caused by adverse weather.
It has bought 800,000 tonnes so far and allowed farmers' groups and private firms to import an additional 200,000 tonnes.
However, prices in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's rice basket, eased to 2,150 dong to 2,250 dong a kg (13.6 cents to 14.3 cents), from 2,200 dong to 2,500 dong last week, on abundant supplies from the winter-spring crop harvest.
Traders said farmers in the Mekong Delta have harvested 90 percent of the crop and the remaining would be harvested by the end of the month.
The Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday the delta's winter-spring crop - its highest-yielding and grain from which is mainly used for exports - would yield 8.72 million tonnes of paddy, up 1.3 percent from 8.61 million tonnes harvested in the same crop last year.