Paddy prices slightly drop as enterprises limit purchasing

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Doi, Director of Binh Thanh Agricultural Services Cooperative in Lap Vo District in Dong Thap Province, the prices of paddy in the Mekong Delta tended to decline in the past few weeks. 
The prices of paddy in the Mekong Delta tend to slightly decline. (Photo: SGGP)
The prices of paddy in the Mekong Delta tend to slightly decline. (Photo: SGGP)
Currently, the price of long-grain paddy fluctuates at VND6,200-VND6,400 per kilogram while that of regular paddy is at VND5,200 per kilogram, down by VND200-VND500 per kilogram compared to one month ago when the export of rice was not suspended.

Currently, many provinces in the Mekong Delta have finished harvesting the winter-spring rice crop with the production of nearly 10.8 million tons of paddy and have been focusing on growing more than 1.5 million hectares of summer-autumn rice crop.

Binh Thanh Cooperative has sowed more than 1,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice crop for nearly 2 months and paddy plants are flowering and will be ready for harvest in one month. It is forecast that the production of the summer-autumn rice crop will be around 6-7 tons per hectare, said Mr. Nguyen Van Doi.

According to Mr. Pham Thai Binh, Director of Trung An High-tech Agricultural Joint Stock Company in Can Tho City, since the export of rice was halted, many rice enterprises in the Mekong Delta have had to reduce or stopped buying paddy because the paddy inventory is high and export of rice has not been resumed. As a result, the prices of paddy slightly dropped.
Paddy prices slightly drop as enterprises limit purchasing ảnh 1 The inventory of rice at enterprises remains high, so they limit purchasing paddy. (Photo: SGGP)
In about one month, places, where summer-autumn rice crop is produced early, will start harvesting paddy. Therefore, authorities need to urgently resolve current obstacles in rice export, clear the inventory of rice and paddy for enterprises, and open up the rice market to ensure profitable paddy prices for farmers. Otherwise, it will lead to the risk that the consumption of rice will be stagnant in the next summer-autumn rice crop, he concerned.

The representative of Duong Vu Company in Long An Province said that his company bought sticky rice for farmers in the Mekong Delta at an average price of VND13,000 per kilogram in the winter-spring rice crop. Currently, the inventory of sticky rice at warehouses and ports is nearly 30,000 tons. Therefore, the company had to temporarily halt purchasing sticky rice in the past two weeks. At the present, farmers and traders are waiting for enterprises to buy sticky rice again while enterprises are waiting for authorities’ permission to export sticky rice because farmers in the Mekong Delta mainly grow sticky rice for export and domestic consumption is low.

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