Asian rice prices eased slightly this week in the absence of key buyers, while demand for the Vietnamese variety, expected to turn cheaper in the coming weeks, could go up, traders said on Wednesday. The Philippines, one of the world's biggest rice importers, has yet to finalise its purchase plan this year, traders said, while China, Vietnam's top rice buyer, is entering the Lunar New Year holiday season, known in Vietnam as Tet.
Thailand and Vietnam are the world's second- and third-largest exporters of the grain after India. "After Tet, domestic supply will pick up, so buyers may be waiting for lower prices," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said, referring to Vietnam's holiday from February 6-14.
Harvesting of the winter-spring crop, Vietnam's biggest, will peak from late this month, and prices could weaken due to increased supply, traders said. Vietnamese 25-percent broken rice widened to $330-$340 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Saigon Port, against $340 a week ago while the 5-percent broken rice stood unchanged at $350-$355 a tonne, FOB basis. "Thai rice prices are higher so Vietnam could sell its winter-spring rice well," the trader said.
Thai 5-percent broken rice eased to $365-$375 a tonne, FOB Bangkok, from $365-$380 last Wednesday. A gap of $15-$20 a tonne in Thai and Vietnamese rice prices could prompt foreign buyers to take Vietnamese grain. Traders in Bangkok said thin buying demand and a stable Thai baht-US dollar exchange rate helped keep the market steady. "Everything is the same and I think the market will be quiet for a while," a trader said.