Vietnam wins bid to supply 130,000 tons of rice to Philippines

The price Vietnam offered is lower than the Philippines’ reference

A man carries a bag of rice at a company in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vietnam has won a tender offered by the Philippines’ National Food Authority (NFA) to export 130,000 metric tons of rice to the Southeast Asian neighbor, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) announced on Friday.

The supply from Vietnam is part of an order to buy 250,000 metric tons of rice by the NFA. The association issued the notice of award to the governments of Vietnam and Thailand on its website the same day.

Vietnam will sell 80,000 metric tons of 25-percent broken rice and 50,000 metric tons of 15-percent broken rice to the Philippines for $517.50 per ton and $520 per ton, respectively.

The Thai government had offered $520 per ton for the balance of 120,000 metric tons of 25-percent broken rice, but eventually adjusted their price to match Vietnam’s $517.50 per ton for the same volume.

NFA set its reference price at $531 per ton for the 15-percent broken and $520.50 per ton for the 25-percent broken rice, based on the prevailing world market prices and the peso-dollar exchange rate as of May 3, 2018.

Vietnam will bring in 40,000 metric tons of 25-percent broken rice no later May 31, 2018, and another 40,000 metric tons by June 15, 2018. The 50,000-metric-ton supply of 15-percent broken rice will be shipped by Vietnam to the designated ports no later than June 30, 2018.

Thailand will bring in 60,000 metric tons of 25-percent broken rice no later than May 31, 2018, and the balance of 60,000 metric tons no later than June 15, 2018.

“NFA will conduct another open tender for an additional 250,000 metric tons rice buffer stock”, Nguyen Trung Kien, vice president of VFA, said.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country’s rice exports in the first four months of 2018 were about 2.16 million metric tons, valued at $1.1 billion, up 21.7 percent in volume and 37.7 percent in value over the same period of 2017.

Vietnam’s average rice export price in the first three months of 2018 reached $501 per ton, up 15 percent over the same period in 2017.

The total volume of rice exported in 2017 was estimated at 5.9 to 6 million metric tons of rice, showing an increase of 1.1-1.2 million metric tons of rice compared to 2016.

Vietnam is projected to export 6.5 million tons of rice in 2018.