Pham Van Bay, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, has rejected as false a report stating that Indonesia had signed more rice export contracts with Vietnam.
Bay said on October 6 that Indonesia has bought 1.75 million tons of rice from Vietnam this year, of which Vietnam has already transferred 1.23 million tons to Indonesia. The country still needs to export 520,000 tons of rice to Indonesia, which remaining balance is expected to be transferred by end of this year.
With the current price fluctuation in the market, false information can result in speculation and lead to a negative impact on domestic rice prices, said Bay.
Vietnam Food Association has asked its members to subsidise domestic rice prices. Businesses must sell 10-15 percent lower than the market rice price to curb soaring prices.
Earlier, Thailand’s rice export prices had shot up and the Thai government introduced a program to buy local rice at higher prices, which turned global importers to switch to buying from Vietnam.
As on October 7, the new export price of Thai white rice will be hiked from US$750 to $800 a ton.
Some Thai rice exporters even came to Vietnam to look for rice stocks and considered setting up factories here,” Bay informed.
Moreover, Philippines too will have to look for alternate sources to import rice to make up for the loss caused by floods and Vietnam’s rice will then be the top choice, he added.
