RI seeks rice as stocks fall

RI seeks rice as stocks fall

BANGKOK (Reuters): New demand from Indonesia has boosted trade in the Southeast Asian grains and oilseed market this week, traders said yesterday.

But enthusiasm has been sporadically dampened by concerns about currency volatility as the battered yen dragged other regionals down with it, they said.

Indonesia's Salim Group was seeking 100,000-200,000 metric tons of rice from Thailand as the country's rice stocks were running low, trade sources said.

Thai exporters recently resumed deliveries to Indonesia, after temporarily suspending shipments due to last month's political turmoil.

"It is not clear if the latest deal has been concluded. I heard there was a considerable amount of concern on payments. But that might have already been ironed out," said a Bangkok-based rice trader.

Indonesia has said it will import more than the 3.1 million tons of rice this year.

Besides rice, Indonesia has also bought around 60,000-90,000 tons of soybeans from the United States under that country's GSM credit guarantee program.

South American soymeal was quoted at around $165-170 per ton on a c&f basis. U.S. soybean was at $242 per ton on the same basis.

In Thailand, local prices of corn and soymeal rose sharply due to delays in shipments from Argentina. But buyers were reluctant to place fresh orders due to the weaker baht.

Feedmills sought to extend the deadline for shipment of the remainder of 300,000 tons of zero-tariff corn imports to July 15 from June 30 previously due to the delay.

Malaysia also entered the Thai rice market for routine purchases. There was also a report that Malaysia was seeking to buy rice from Myanmar.

"There's market talk that Malaysia would need to import more rice to keep local prices down. But its government in the Thai market does not seem to indicate so," said another trader in Singapore.

"Malaysia buys around 30,000-40,000 tons each month and there is nothing irregular about its purchase this month," he said.

As for rice from Myanmar, traders said the country was a viable choice for cheaper rice for Malaysia although doubts remained on the amount of rice Yangon could afford to sell, the consistency and reliability of its deliveries.

Malaysia recently signed a deal to buy 5,000 tons of rice from Myanmar. However, traders said Myanmar was likely to push for more barter trade with Malaysia and rice would be one of the key features.

Sources said Myanmar was seeking to buy four million barrels of crude from Kuala Lumpur and pay part of the bill in rice, beans and fish.