Philippine rice tender win buoys local price

Farmers load just-harvested paddy (unhusked rice) onto a boat in the Mekong Delta - PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH

CAN THO – That Vietnamese rice firms won in a Philippine tender last month to supply 175,000 tons of 25% broken rice has led to a steady price increase of IR 50404 rice in the Mekong Delta.

The Vietnamese winners of the tender which the Philippines held under a government-to-private importation to replenish its dwindling buffer stocks are Vietnam Southern Food Corp, Gia International Corp, Tan Long Group JSC and Hiep Loi Food JSC.

Nguyen Thanh Tho, a rice trader at Ba Dac wholesale market in Tien Giang Province, told the Daily on August 8 that IR 50404 material rice sells for VND7,300-7,400 a kilo, up VND100-150 compared to July 25, while its finished rice fetches VND8,400-8,500 a kilo, up VND100-200.

Local traders purchase IR 50404 fresh rice at VND5,000-5,100 a kilo on the farm, up VND200-300. Likewise, broken rice is sold at VND6,900-7,000 at Ba Dac market.

The four winning bidders will deliver 120,000 tons to the National Food Authority of the Philippines within this month, resulting in an upsurge in domestic demand for IR 50404, according to Nguyen Thanh Phong, director of Van Loi Corporation in Tien Giang Province. Its price has subsequently picked up.

Some enterprises said IR 50404 25% broken rice is locally priced at VND8-8.13 million (US$353-357) a ton.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government purchases the staple food at US$409 to US$425.9 a ton.

In a related development, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has received a letter from Bangladesh announcing that the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority on August 8 began inviting tenders for supply of 50,000 tons of parboiled rice.

According to industry sources, Vietnam might be one of the winners. Earlier, the nation won a deal to supply 250,000 tons of rice for Bangladesh, including 200,000 tons of white rice at US$430 each and the remainder of parboiled rice at US$470 each.

Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Bangladeshi Minister of Food Advocate Qamrul Islam struck a memorandum of understanding on rice trade on May 23, in which Vietnam will provide Bangladesh with one million tons of rice annually until 2022.