Rice sales to Philippines, China lift Vietnam prices
Vietnam's rice sales have grown following contract agreements with the Philippines and increased demand from China

Vietnam has recently signed contracts to sell a total of 120,000 tonnes of rice to private companies in the Philippines, helping push up export prices by around 10 per cent in recent weeks, traders said on Friday.
Securing the Philippines contracts will come as a relief to the world’s second-largest exporter of the grain after a long period without major contracts, but higher export prices could mean the loss of new deals to rivals such as Thailand and Pakistan.
Half of the volume was the 5 per cent broken rice, while the 15-broken and 25-broken grades made up the rest in the deals struck by Vinafood 2, Vietnam’s largest rice exporter, three traders at foreign firms in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Loading will begin next month, one trader said.
Officials at Ho Chi Minh City-based Vinafood 2 could not be reached immediately for comment.
The 5 per cent broken rice was quoted this week at US$400 to US$405 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Saigon Port, up around 10 per cent from the start of this month.