Vietnam won a bid to export over 400,000 metric tons of rice to Indonesia, which was expected to slow down the current rice export price decline, Nguyen Duy Thuan, general director of local rice supplier Loc Troi Group, said on Saturday.
The Indonesian National Logistics Agency on Wednesday announced the results of the tender to import 500,000 metric tons of rice.
Three major Vietnamese companies secured two lots of the bid each, including Loc Troi Group winning lot No. 8 and 14, Vietnam Northern Food Corporation obtaining lot No. 15 and 16, and Vietnam Southern Food Corporation clinching lot No. 3 and 9.
Four other Vietnamese firms winning the bid were Kien Giang Import-Export JSC, Phat Tai Co. Ltd., Gia International Corporation, and King Green Natural Foods JSC, which secured lot No. 12, 11, 6, and 2, respectively.
Besides the Vietnamese enterprises, Singaporean company R&S Trader PTE secured lot No. 10, 13, and 17.
Indonesia planned to import some three million metric tons of rice this year.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is expected to harvest about six million metric tons of rice until April.
A Loc Troi Group leader said the world’s rice demand increases by one percent, or five million metric tons, per year. Therefore, stable rice production is crucial.
The National Authority for Agro-Forestry-Fishery Quality, Processing and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development forecast the world’s total rice output to reach 520 million metric tons this year, while the consumed volume may reach 525 million metric tons.
In other words, the world will face a shortage of five million metric tons of rice in 2024.
The export price of Vietnam’s five-percent broken rice has fallen US$11 per metric ton since early January, according to the Vietnam Food Association.
The prices of other types of rice have also experienced a decline.
Particulary, 25-percent broken rice is currently priced at $614 per metric ton, reflecting a decrease of $19 compared to the beginning of the previous month.
The Jasmine rice price has also declined by $8 to $720 per metric ton.
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