Rice prices in Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter after Thailand, firmed further this week as exporters scrambled to secure supplies for loading amid thinning stocks, traders said on Wednesday.
"Supplies are very scant right now while more ships are coming so everyone is trying to get whatever's left in the market," said a trader in Ho Chi Minh City.
Quotations for 5-percent broken rice rose to $256-$258 a tonne, free-on-board Saigon Port, from $255 last week and around $252 two weeks ago. Ten-percent broken rice edged up to $254 per tonne from $252 last Wednesday.
The 25-percent broken grade also rose to $230-$232 a tonne from $229-$230 last week.
Five vessels are this week loading a combined 97,500 tonnes at Saigon Port for Africa, while another 13 vessels have finished loading 126,876 tonnes for Africa and the Philippines.
Earlier this month, the Trade Ministry ordered the Vietnam Food Association to instruct member-exporters to stop signing new contracts until the end of November and urge them to complete loading for existing deals.
However, Agriculture Ministry officials said no more grain would be allowed for export until the end of this year.
"It is certain it is impossible to export any more rice this year, even just 1 kg," Deputy Agriculture Minister Bui Ba Bong was quoted as saying by state media last week.
Bong encouraged exporters to hold back grain for food security this year and said they would be permitted to use the grain for export next year.
He said official records of export contracts showed total export deals for 2005 had reached a record 4.7 million tonnes, compared to 4.06 million tonnes exported last year.
Exporters said they still had around 900,000 tonnes of rice available in stock but Bong estimated the amount at nearer 500,000 tonnes.
Traders said some firms had already begun negotiations for export contracts next year to Africa.