Export price of Vietnamese rice is beating the record and on the par with Thais rice price, according to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).
Truong Thanh Phong, VFA’s general secretary said Vietnamese rice is traded at US$293 a ton on average, up US$42 a ton from one year ago. Vietnamese 25 per cent broken rice, particularly, was offered at US$350 a ton, US$7 a ton higher than Thais rice.
Sharp growing demand for rice in the world market being pushed up by weak wheat supply is the major reason for the rising price of Vietnamese rice, Phong explained.
Wheat price is also soaring to US$435 a ton, up US$180 a ton on-year, due to decrease in output in Australia, which is one of the world’s biggest wheat producers.
India reduced wheat export and boosted importing to make up for rice shortage, while Indonesia, who had never imported rice, started importing 1.3 million tons.
At local market, farmers are selling their paddy crops at the highest price for 2007. Since the beginning of the year, the average paddy rice has ranged between VND2,950 and VND3,300 a kilo, while production costs stood at VND1,600 and1,800 a kilo.
Vietnamese enterprises have signed contracts to export 4.5 million tons of rice for 2007, and so shipped 3.7 million tons abroad far this year.
Vietnam’s total rice output this year is expected to reach 36.5 million tons, in which domestic demand will account for 28.5 million tons.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the world’s total rice output in the 2007-2008 crop will reach 420.8 million tons, while demand is estimated at 424.5 million tons, up 1 per cent over the previous crop. (Vietnam Agriculture)
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