Vietnam offers second cheapest price for rice

Vietnam Food Association (VFA) on Thursday said Vietnam offers second cheapest prices in global rice market after Myanmar. In a statement issued here, VFA said the country now has advantages in developing and exporting white rice but it has not yet become a competitor against Thailand in field of fragrant rice export. Rice trade in the international market is increasing after Philippines announced its demand to import over two million tonnes of rice and Indonesia could cancel the plan of exporting two million tonnes of rice because of prolonged droughts. This is also the reason that's why brokers and intermediaries are offering Vietnam's rice at $320-350 per tonne of Vietnam processed 3 percent-broken rice. However analysts said Vietnam's rice export price has inched up recently. export surpassed $1 billion till the end of second week in May. In the first 14 days of May, the country has exported 304,994 tonnes of rice valued at $135.7 million, raising the accumulative rice export volume to 2.3 million tonnes worth $1.06 billion. In comparison to the same period of last year, the rice export volume was 300,000 tonnes lower; however, the export turnover was similar, proving that the rice export price this year stayed at higher level than that of last year. At present, the farmers in Mekong Delta provinces have finished harvesting their spring-summer crop. The rice price to produce 5 percent broken rice stayed at 5,500-5,600 dong per kilogramme and the 5 percent-broken rice finished products were offered at about 6,500-6,600 dong per kilogramme.