Vietnam has cut the floor price for its top export quality 5 percent broken rice to between $430 and $440 a tonne from $460 after it lifted export restrictions, an industry official said on Wednesday. The floor for 25 percent broken rice remained at $400 a tonne, free-on-board basis.
Unchanged since February 26 when the Vietnam Food Association last adjusted the price floors, said the official, who declined to be named. Late last month Vietnam's food industry and government trade officials agreed to allow rice exporters to resume talks to sign new deals, effectively lifting curbs in place since February.
The food association had said in late February, it would only allow new contracts for shipment from July to September, after exporters had signed contracts totalling 3.7 million tonnes for the first half of 2009. "After the authorities checked and balanced supply and demand, exporters can now strike new deals," the official said by telephone from Ho Chi Minh City. He did not say if the food association had imposed limits on the volume of new contracts.
Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, is forecast to export 5.2 million tonnes of rice this year, up from 4.65 million tonnes in 2008, the US Department of Agriculture said. Traders said the floor price had been cut to attract buyers who had turned to buying rice from other origins after Vietnam imposed the export restrictions. They said exporters' quotations this week were largely based on the floor set by the food association.
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