Illustrative photo (Source: congthuong.vn) According to the Vietnam Food Association, since March 29, the rice exportprice has dropped sharply by 20 USD per tonne after reaching the highest pricein the past nine years.
Currently, the asking price of 5 percent broken white rice was at 498-502 USDper tonne, the price of 25 percent broken white rice was 473-477 USD per tonneand 100 percent broken white rice was at 428-432 USD per tonne.
The association also said prices of 5 percent broken white rice from Thailandstood at 490-494 USD per tonne while that from India was at 408-412 USD pertonne.
The news wire service Reuters reported that Thailand's rice price hasfallen to its lowest level in the past four months due to the decline indomestic prices and exchange rates when the Thai baht has weakened by 3.5 percentcompared to the previous year since the beginning of March 2021, while theprices in India have been adjusted to reflect the decline in the Indian rupee.
Phan Van Co, director of Vrice Co Ltd, said: “The reduction in sellingprices for Vietnamese exporters will help sell local rice in the export market.”
Co said recently, Vietnamese rice prices were always higher thancompetitors’ such as Thailand and India, which made it difficult to competebecause some importers were turning to India to buy 5 percent broken white riceat lower prices though they were still buying fragrant rice from Vietnam.
Co said that Indian rice was cheap and had stable quality while transportingcosts from India to Africa was also cheaper than from Vietnam, adding the lowerprices also made major rice importing countries such as China, the Philippines,and Indonesia buy Indian rice for their reserves.
Vietnamese 5-percent broken rice was now too expensive compared to theinternational market, each tonne of the rice was about 100 USD higher thanIndian rice, plus with the higher transportation costs, it was difficult tocompete.
Nguyen Van Thanh, director of Phuoc Thanh IV Company, said: “Though the askingprices of local rice decreased, it is still high compared to the current pricesand much higher than in the last year.”
Thanh also said the reduction will help Vietnamese rice compete better amidexpensive freight.
When prices of 5-percent broken rice fell, exporters said they would keep the priceshigh-end rice such as Dai Thom, Jasmine and ST 24, stable.
Pham Thai Binh, general director of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint StockCompany, said: “Trung An's orders still maintain a high price from 600 USDto nearly 1,000 USD per tonne.”
Binh said as his business has a good grasp of the market tastes, the productsstill win customers’ hearts and are sold at good prices.
Vrice's director Phan Van Co, stated since 2020, the prices of fragrant riceexported to markets in the EU has not changed, saying: "We have long-termbusiness with our partners, in addition, Vietnamese rice has found a stablecustomer segment for many years, so exports are good."
Like Vrice, Phuoc Thanh IV Company currently exports fragrant Dai 8, OM 5451rice products to countries in Asia and the Middle East with relatively goodprices, of which, Đài fragrant 8 rice is purchased by partners at 545-550 USD pertonne.
Director Thanh of the firm said they could sell their high-quality products atgood prices as his enterprise has created a habit for foreign consumers to use qualityrice products originating in Vietnam. Thanh estimated a more exciting exportmarket for Vietnam from April as there would be more customers than in thefirst quarter.
According to the latest statistics by the General Department of Customs, in thefirst 15 days of March, the country exported 203,320 tonnes of rice with theturnover at more than 111 million USD. Accumulated from the beginning of theyear to March 15, the rice export volume reached 858,605 tonnes with turnoverof more than 470 million USD. The average value of rice export in the first monthsof 2021 reached 548 USD per tonne, higher than the same period last year. Theprice was 464 USD in the same term last year. The main rice export markets of Vietnamwere the Philippines, mainland China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore./.
VNA
