Rice market quiet on RI deal

Rice market quiet on RI deal

HANOI (Reuters): Vietnam's rice trade has been quiet this week on firm prices with much interest focused on how the government would price a deal to sell Indonesia 100,000 tonnes of rice, traders said yesterday.

"The market is quiet and everyone is paying attention to deals with Indonesia and Iraq," said one international rice trader in southern Ho Chi Minh City.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has approved the deal to sell 100,000 tons of rice to Indonesia on one-year deferred payment as well as providing a free shipment of 10,000 tonnes.

Five percent broken grade was being quoted at around $310 per ton, free-on-board (FOB) Saigon Port, unchanged from last week.

Lower grades of 10 and 25 percent broken were quoted at $300- $305 and $260-$262 a ton, respectively.

The official at the Southern Food Company, said shipment on the Indonesia deal would be from August to October, with the bulk probably comprising 25 percent broken grade rice from Vietnam's current summer-autumn crop.