Prices drop in major exporters on weak demand

Updated: Thu, Aug 31, 2017
03:53 pm
Reuters
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Rice prices dropped this week in Thailand, Vietnam and India due to weak demand for the staple, traders said on Thursday.

Thai benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $370-$375 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, down from $375-$377 a tonne last week.

The fall in prices can be attributed to the release of new crops.

“Export market demand is currently at a low level, perhaps due to buyers waiting to see whether a further slump in prices will occur or not," said a Bangkok-based trader.

Prices in Thailand are expected to fall next week and remain relatively stable until the end of October, according to rice traders.    

Vietnam benchmark 5-percent broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 tightened slightly to $385-$390 a tonne this week, FOB Saigon, from $385-$395 last week.

This drop has occurred as fresh demand was scarce after harvesting ended for the summer-autumn crops.

“The market has been quiet on low demand. Prices have declined in Thailand, so Vietnam’s prices also went down,” a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Thailand and Vietnam are the world`s second and third biggest rice exporters.

In India, the world`s biggest rice exporter, 5-percent broken parboiled rice prices fell by $3 per tonne to $400 to $403 per tonne.

Weak demand is the result of a strong rupee which dents export margins.

"We are out priced. Buyers are asking for less than $400 per tonne, which is not possible due to strong rupee," said an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

India`s non-basmati rice exports are likely to slow over the next few months as its shipments of the grain have become too expensive due to a rally in the rupee and an increase in local paddy prices.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is set to buy 250,000 tonnes of white rice at $453 a tonne from Cambodia in a government-to-government deal, officials said.

It had earlier imported 200,000 tonnes of white rice at $430 a tonne and 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $470 a tonne from Vietnam in a state-to-state deal at rates much higher than in tenders.

Demand from Bangladesh has been crucial to rice prices in the global market this year as the country`s government is battling to build buffer stocks to combat high domestic prices after flash floods in April wiped away around 1 million tonnes of rice output.                                                                             

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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