HANOI (Reuters): Vietnam's rice export prices dipped to their lowest in more than a year on concerns about Indonesian rice imports in the coming year, while India's rice prices held steady near their lowest levels in 15 months due to burgeoning supplies.
Vietnam's 5% broken rice were offered at their lowest since July 2023 at US$515-$520 per metric ton, down from last week's $520-$525, traders said.
"The slight fall in prices could have reflected the fact that an Indonesian official said earlier this month that the country might not import rice in 2025," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Indonesia is a major market for Vietnamese rice, after the Philippines. In the first 10 months of this year, Indonesia imported 1.1 million tons of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 14.2% of total exports.
However, another trader based in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang said he believed Indonesia will keep importing rice from Vietnam next year.
"The Philippines earlier said it would reduce imports but ended up importing more," the second trader said.
Prices of India's 5% broken parboiled variety were steady at $440-$447 per ton this week, its lowest since July 2023. Indian 5% broken white rice was quoted at $440-$450 per ton.
Supplies from the new season crop are likely to jump in the next few weeks, said a Kolkata-based trader.
India's rice inventories surged to an all-time high in November, sources said last week, nearly three times the government's target.
Thailand's 5% broken rice was quoted at $490-$495 per ton, versus $490 last week.
Demand for Thai rice this week comes largely from Indonesia and the Philippines, the two markets that are regular customers, a Bangkok-based trader said.
The market also expects more supply of rice coming in from harvesting of crops next month, another trader said.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh has allowed private traders to import 600,000 tons of rice, food ministry officials said.
The government is also purchasing rice from global markets through international tenders.
(Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru, Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi, Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok, and Ruma Paul in Bangladesh, additional reporting by Swati Verma; Editing by Vijay Kishore) - Reuters
