Rice export prices tumble on stable market supply

Statistics unveiled by the Vietnam Food Association indicate that after two downward adjustments and one slight recovery over the past week, September 18 saw Vietnam’s 5% broken rice decrease by US$15 from the previous week to US$613 per tonne. Similarly, the country’s 25% broken rice also fell by US$15 to US$598 per tonne.

In the global market, Thailand’s 5% rice also dropped by US$7 to US$611 per tonne, while its 25% broken rice also endured a decline of US$13 to US$550 per tonne compared to the previous week.

Although the price gap with Thai rice has narrowed, Vietnamese rice continued to record the highest price in the world.

MXV has attributed the recent decline in rice prices over the past two weeks to stable supply sources in the global market.

Furthermore, India’s recent ban placed on rice exports has helped the country to ensure adequate supplies of essential foods such as rice and wheat.

Bangladesh also has sufficient rice reserves at about 1.7 million tonnes to supply people amid rising rice prices.

Meanwhile, major rice consumers have also actively purchased rice in the previous period for food reserves.

Moreover, the Indonesian Government recently increased rice imports in a bid to replenish reserves for the essential commodity.

Most notably, many rice producers will also enter the peak harvest season next month, a factor which is anticipated to provide a large amount of supply to the market moving forward. In particular, the Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, plans to reduce import taxes on this product in future.

These factors are therefore projected to pull rice export prices down in the coming months.