Vietnam wins tender to ship rice to Philippines

Farmers in the Mekong Delta harvest rice. Vietnam has won a tender to supply 118,000 tons of 25% broken rice to the Philippines - Photo: Trung Chanh

CAN THO - A Vietnamese rice exporter today, November 20, won a tender to supply 118,000 tons of 25% broken rice to the Philippines, which wanted to purchase 500,000 tons of rice under government-to-private contracts.

However, the name and the offering price of the exporter was not revealed.

Lam Anh Tuan, director of Thinh Phat Foodstuffs Co., Ltd, based in Ben Tre Province, told the Saigon Times that the contract would help boost the local rice consumption in the coming period.

At a conference before the tender, held on November 7, five Vietnamese enterprises registered to participate in the tender: Gia International Corporation, Hiep Loi Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Southern Food Corporation, Vietnam Northern Food Corporation and Tan Long Group.

Rice exporters from other countries joining the tender were Asia Golden Rice, Thai Hua, Ponglarp, Shwe Wah Yaung Agriculture Production, Phoenix Global DMCC, Meskay & Femtee Trading, Olam International and Capital Cereals.

The reference price set by the Philippines is US$447.88 per ton, higher than the reference price of US$431.2 per ton for the 250,000 tons of rice requested at a tender held last month. The payment will be made 30 days after the buyer receives the original legal documents.

The Philippines divided the 500,000 tons of 25% broken rice into nine tender packages and would receive the rice at 14 seaports. The first 250,000 tons must be delivered to the country’s seaports this year and the remainder no later than January 31 next year.

At another tender to import 203,000 tons of rice by the Philippines under Government-to-Government contracts, both Vietnam and Thailand refused to take part due to the low reference price and strict delivery requirements.