HANOI: The difference in export prices of a rice variety in Thailand and Vietnam widened this week after the two nations won a tender to supply to the Philippines, while buyers of Vietnamese and Indian rice turned to cheaper grain sources, traders said.

Thailand and Vietnam are the world’s second- and third-largest rice exporters after India. The gap between their 5-percent broken grades has soared 74 percent in the past week to around $33 per tonne.

Thai benchmark 5-percent broken rice rose to $375-$376 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) basis, from $370-$375 last week, traders said.

Benchmark 5-percent broken rice prices in Vietnam eased to $340-$345 a tonne, FOB, from $345-$360 last Wednesday.

A tender on Aug. 31 has pushed up Thai rice prices, its commerce ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

A trader in Bangkok said some new orders for old rice and parboiled grain have also boosted prices. “(The rise) will be temporary, as new rice is expected to come out next month,” he said.

Vietnam will sell 150,000 tonnes of 25 percent broken rice to Manila at $424.85/tonne, including freight, insurance and other costs, after the Aug. 31 tender. Thailand will supply 100,000 tonnes at the same price.

In Vietnam, export quotations stood at multi-month lows as the volume to be loaded for Manila was tiny compared with current stocks, while buyers were looking at cheaper grain from Pakistan and Myanmar, traders said.

“Prices in Vietnam even dropped because of high stocks,” a Vietnamese rice expert based in the Mekong Delta food basket said, adding slowing exports this year also meant higher inventory.

Vietnam’s 25-percent broken rice fell to $330-$335 a tonne this week, the lowest in nearly seven months.

“While prices in Vietnam have dropped, buyers are still attracted by cheap rice in Pakistan, while some can even buy in Myanmar,” a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Pakistani 5 percent broken grain stood at $325/tonne, he said. India’s 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices eased this week to $372-$382/tonne, FOB basis, from $375-$385 in late October as buyers turned to Thailand, traders said.

“Prices are consistently falling due to poor demand,” even though the Indian rupee strengthened, said an exporter in Kakinada, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Indian rupee hit a four-month high against dollar on Wednesday, reducing exporters’ earnings. Prospects of bumper summer-sown crop are also putting pressure on local prices, traders said.—Reuters