Rice price: Businessman Vo Tan Nha and his wife having lunch at their rice shop in Ho Chi Minh City A minimum export price for rice will likely prevent bidding exporters from selling too low, ensuring safety for themselves and farmers. — AP HANOI: There should be a minimum export price for Vietnamese rice to prevent companies from engaging in price wars, undercutting each other, say industry insiders after a recent incident in which Vietnamese exporters won a bid to supply Indonesia’s State Logistics Agency (Perum Bulog) with 100,000 tonnes of rice for a total of US$55mil. Loc Troi had the lowest bidding prices among bidders at US$563 per tonne, US$16 lower than the initial price of US$579 per tonne and US$24 lower than the domestic rice price listed by the Vietnam Food Association.
Huynh Thi Bich Huyen, chairwoman of the Ngoc Quang Phát Import-Export Joint Stock Co based in the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho, said the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) should establish a minimum price for rice exports. She said the minimum price, once implemented, would prevent bidding exporters from selling too low, ensuring safety for themselves and farmers. “We need solidarity and cooperation among Vietnamese rice exporters.
“Established corporations such as the Northern Food Corp and Southern Food Corp can represent Vietnamese rice exporters in bidding wars in certain countries. Once the contracts are secured, they can divide the orders later,” she said. Huyen said the most imp.
