Cambodia-Vietnam JV targets rice exports
CAVFOOD, a joint venture between Cambodian and Vietnamese companies, launched the first phase of its US$8 million rice mill in Phnom Penh on Friday.
The venture is an investment by Cambodian state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and Vietnam’s VNA Food 2 and Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC).
Located in the Russey Keo district, it is expected to process eight to 10 tonnes of milled rice an hour.
The second phase of the mill, in which a second milling machine will begin operations, is expected to launch in May.
Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said on Friday at the opening ceremony that the rice mill put Cambodia a step closer to reaching its rice export goals.
“It is a contribution in accordance with the implementation of policy to reach more than four million tonnes of rice production and one million tonnes of [milled] rice to be exported in 2015, which can bring international recognition to Cambodia’s rice,” he said.
CAVFOOD director Don Anh Sang said the company’s intention was to make Cambodia one of the leading rice-exporting countries in Southeast Asia, adding that other ASEAN markets, Europe and the United States were all target markets.
The company would export 225,000 tonnes of rice in 2015, he said, or about a quarter of Cambodia’s million-tonne goal.
Others, however, said a number of hurdles still stood in the way of the Kingdom reaching that goal.
BIDC director Tran Bac Ha, who also serves as president of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia, said the high price of Cambodian rice was an impediment to the country competing in global markets.
To export a million tonnes of milled rice, the Kingdom would need to decrease electricity and transportation costs, as well as streamline the bureaucracy involved with the export process, he said.
HANOI: China could see a three-fold jump in rice imports from Vietnam this year, industry officials said on Monday, as the world's biggest consumer steps up purchases to contain domestic prices.
The demand from China, coupled with an industry-led stockpiling campaign, is keeping a floor under Vietnamese paddy prices even as the harvest of the major crop is peaking in the Mekong Delta food basket.
Vietnamese exporters have sold about 500,000 tonnes of rice to China so far this year, with nearly half that volume already shipped, Vietnam Food Association Chairman Truong Thanh Phong told the farm ministry-run Vietnam Agriculture newspaper.
"The number of contracts of rice sold to China has been increasing quickly," an official of Vietnam Food Association told Reuters, confirming the media report.
China has been buying rice from Pakistan and Vietnam in recent months to keep a lid on domestic rice prices which have climbed on the back of government support to paddy farmers, traders said.
"There is no problem with domestic supply. I think the estimated large imports could be due to cheap prices," said an analyst with a Chinese official think-tank.
A Singapore-based rice trader added: "It is not clear how much China is going to buy as it started very quietly and it is going to end very quietly."
Chinese domestic milled rice was quoted at about 3,900 yuan ($619) per tonne in Guangxi, bordering Vietnam, compared with $430 per tonne for Vietnamese rice, according to the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre.
The price differential has led to about 400,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice sold across the border to China via largely unregulated trades, the Vietnamese food association said.
VIETNAM COULD OVERTAKE THAILAND AS RICE EXPORTER
Last year, China imported 309,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam, almost 150 percent more than the 124,500 tonnes bought in 2010, customs data shows. Exporters must register contracts with the food association to obtain shipping permits.
The forecast demand by China represents nearly 14 percent of the record 7.2 million tonnes Vietnam aims to export this year. If Vietnam does sell that much rice, it will overtake Thailand to become the world's largest rice exporter in 2012.
Thailand, which has been the world's biggest exporter for three decades, looks set to see exports fall sharply to 7 million tonnes at most due to high prices caused by government intervention to support millions of poor farmers.
Vietnamese 5 percent broken rice prices have risen to around $435 a tonne, up from around $405 a tonne few weeks ago, thanks to fresh demand from China as well as a government-sponsored stockpiling plan aimed to keep in stock 2 million tonnes of paddy for three months ending June 15.
"The prices are not likely to spike as there is a lot of rice in the world but it is certainly supporting the market," said a Bangkok-based trader. "We are looking at another $20 increase in Vietnamese prices."
On Monday, prices for Vietnam's winter-spring rice grade 1, used for processing the 5-percent broken variety for export, rose to 7,050-7,280 dong (33.8-34.9 US cents) per kg, up 3 percent from March 8, the day before the stockpiling plan.
The US Department of Agriculture has estimated China's milled rice production in 2011/12 at 140.5 million tonnes, up from 137 million tonnes a year ago.
China harvested a record 200.78 million tonnes of paddy in 2011, up 2.6 percent from 2010, according to official data.
The data also showed 2011 rice imports were 578,383 tonnes imported while exports stood at 515,497 tonnes
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Vietnam rice price is among the most competitive in the world compared to others which can make Vietnam the world's biggest rice exporter this year 2012
| Oryza Global Rice Prices | |||
| April 5, 2012 | |||
| Long grain white rice - high quality | |||
| Thai 100% B | 545 - 555 | ? | |
| Viet 5% | 425 - 435 | ? | |
| Indian 5% | 440 - 450 | ? | |
| Paki 5% | 460 - 470 | ? | |
| US 4% | 495 - 505 | ? | |
| Uruguay 5% | 535 - 545 | ? | |
| Argentina 5% | 535 - 545 | ? | |
| Long grain white rice - low quality | |||
| Thai 25% | 510 - 520 | ? | |
| Viet 25% | 375 - 385 | ? | |
| Paki 25% | 400 - 410 | ? | |
| Indian 25% | 380 - 390 | ? | |
| US 15% | 475 - 485 | ? | |
| Long grain parboiled rice | |||
| Thai 100% | 585 - 595 | ? | |
| Paki 5% | 455 - 465 | ? | |
| Indian 5% | 420 - 430 | ? | |
| US 4% | 585 - 595 | ? | |
| Brazil 5% | 620 - 630 | ? | |
| Uruguay 5% | 610 - 620 | ? | |
| Long grain fragrant rice | |||
| Thai Hom Mali 100% | 995 - 1005 | ? | |
| Viet 5% | 605 - 615 | ? | |
| Indian basmati 2% | 1055 - 1065 | ? | |
| Paki basmati 2% | 1015 - 1025 | ? | |
| Brokens | |||
| Thai A1 super | 530 - 540 | ? | |
| Viet | 330 - 340 | ? | |
| Paki | 350 - 360 | ? | |
| Indian | 320 - 330 | ? | |
| Egypt medium grain | NQ | ? | |
| US pet food | 375 - 385 | ? | |
| Brazil half grain | 395 - 405 | ? | |
| Medium grain milled | |||
| US Calrose 4% | 640 - 650 | ? | |
| Egypt 6% | NQ | ? | |
| All prices USD per ton, FOB vessel oryza.com | |||
Vietnam Wins NFA Rice Contracts
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has signed contracts to export a total of 500,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines, which could lift prices if loading set to start next month coincide with shipments to other destinations, traders said on Wednesday.
The sale is Vietnam's biggest deal this year as it aims to maintain 2011's record level of 7.2 million tonnes of rice shipments, which could help it displace Thailand as the world's top exporter of the grain.
The sale also indicates that the Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer in 2010, could import more rice this year than its initial target of 500,000 tonnes, Vietnamese rice traders said.
The Philippines usually buys two-thirds of its non-private sector annual rice requirements from Vietnam and small volumes from Thailand. Private sector buyers already purchase rice from Cambodian suppliers.
All the deals were signed by Vinafood 2, Vietnam's top rice exporter, for supplying 5 percent, 15 percent and 25 percent broken varieties, with loading to start from mid-April, three traders at foreign firms in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Vinafood 2, based in Ho Chi Minh City, has been appointed the sole contractor to supply rice to the Philippines and Malaysia.
''Prices did not move much because companies joining the loading are those which participate in the stockpiling scheme and they have stock ready,'' an executive of an export company in Ho Chi Minh City said.
''But export prices could rise (next month) if loading for the Philippines is executed at the same time with other shipments,'' she said.
The deal for Manila would make up a sixth of the projected 3 million tonnes that Vietnam plans to export in the first half of 2012, Chairman Truong Thanh Phong of the Vietnam Food Association told the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper.
''The contract term for loading is that the seller will ship between now and June 2012, but it is possible that (Vietnamese) companies will complete the shipment earlier,'' Phong said in an interview. He gave no pricing details.
Traders said Vietnam sold 210,000 tonnes of 5 percent broken grain at $433 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) basis, and 50,000 tonnes of 15 percent broken rice at $412 a tonne, with the remaining 240,000 tonnes of 25 percent broken grade priced at $397 a tonne.
Vietnamese traders were uncertain about the buyers in the Philippines, with one naming the National Food Authority (NFA) as the buyer, although the country's stated policy is to allow private firms to import most of its rice needs this year.
The Philippines, which said it would limit 2012 rice purchases to 500,000 tonnes from 860,000 tonnes last year and a record 2.45 million in 2010, has allowed private firms to import 380,000 tonnes
