Showing posts with label million tons rice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label million tons rice. Show all posts

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Trade ministry: Rice still ample for export this year

HCMC - Strong foreign demand has pushed up reference prices of export-standard rice by US$50 per ton, but the trade ministry confirmed there would be no rice shortage for export this year.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien, who is in charge of managing rice exports, told the Daily after a review meeting on Tuesday on exports in the last four months that there is still one million tons of rice in stock. Furthermore, the commercial rice volume will increase in the upcoming harvest, he said.

“In the coming harvest, the country expects to have an additional 3.5 million tons of rice, including 1.5 million tons of commercial rice. We will weigh the situation to decide the amount for export till the end of this year,” Bien said.

However, Bien declined to comment on some predictions that the rice export volume this year could jump to a record high of seven million tons despite the ample inventory. In June, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) suggested to raise the export target by half a million tons to 6.5 million tons of rice.

Pham Van Bay, vice chair of the association, said the total export in July and August has increased considerably from the same period last year. He estimated that export in September will be steady at between 700,000 and 800,000 tons.

The total rice export in the January-August period amounted to 4.8 million tons valued at more than US$ 2 billion.

Currently, rice exporters are increasing purchases from farmers owing to strong foreign demand.

In August, VFA raised the reference price three times by US$50 per ton. For the 5%-broken rice, the guiding price is at US$450, while that for 25%-broken rice is US$410 per ton. However, the number of rice exporters signing contracts at these prices is insignificant.

“The guiding price is applicable to both contracts under government-to-government agreements for major markets such as the Philippines, Iraq, and Cuba, as well as to commercial contracts,” Bay added.

Currently, all food traders are asked to observe the reference prices determined by VFA from time to time when signing contracts with foreign rice buyers.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ample rice supply boosts exports beyond annual target

Ample rice supply boosts exports beyond annual targetVietnam may ship 7 million tons of rice this year, 17 percent higher than the annual target, as there is ample supply of the grain, an agriculture official said.

The country has harvested more than 26 million tons of paddy so far this year and is set to reap another 13 million tons in the remaining months, Nguyen Tri Ngoc, director of the Cultivation Department at the agriculture ministry, told the Vietnam Economic Times Monday.

He said there would be sufficient rice for the domestic market even if  6.5-7 million tons of rice were exported this year. Local food companies have stocked around 1.4 million tons of rice, he added.

Vietnam, the world’s second largest rice exporter after Thailand, had planned to export 6 million tons of the grain this year. So far, more than 4 million tons valued at around $2 billion have been shipped, according to official figures.

Ngoc said there is no need to worry about rice supplies in Vietnam now, but the country is short on other grains used as animal feed.

Vietnam still has to import huge amounts of corn and soya bean meal, he said.

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