Vietnam has won a bid to supply 130,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines after the National Food Authority (NFA)’s auction on importing 250,000 tonnes.

The remaining 120,000 tonnes will be supplied by Thai producers.

According to NFA, Vietnam will supply 50,000 tonnes of 15 percent broken rice to the Philippines at 526.5 USD per tonne and 80,000 tonnes of 25 percent broken rice at 517.5 USD per tonne.

Vietnamese and Thai enterprises will deliver 100,000 tonnes of 25 percent broken rice from now until May 31. The deadline for the supply of rice from Vietnam and Thailand is May 16 for 25 percent broken rice and June 30 for 15 percent broken rice.

NFA said it would open another auction on importing rice on May 22.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam’s rice export value in the first four months reached 1.092 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 38.3 percent. This result was possible in the beginning of the year when Vietnam won contracts to export rice to large markets.

Indonesia opened two auctions on importing rice in the first quarter of 2018 after two years. The first auction was in January, where Vietnam won a bid to supply 141,000 tonnes. In the second auction in April, the country won an export contract of supplying 300,000 tonnes to Indonesia. Delivery time for the rice exports is from May to July.

The export value of rice has also increased sharply this year because of the high demand in China and the Philippines. Iraq is also emerging as one of the strong importers of Vietnamese rice.

According to the Vietnam Food Association, the export volume of rice this year is expected to reach some 6.5 million tonnes. Of this, about 2.7 million tonnes will be shipped to China, 800,000 tonnes to the Philippines, 800,000 tonnes to Indonesia, 500,000 tonnes to Malaysia, 200,000 tonnes to Iraq and 1 million tonnes to Africa.-VNA