India’s Rice export prices dropped this week to their lowest since December 2016 as a weaker rupee allowed traders to reduce rates amidst rising domestic rice supply from fresh harvests. One rice trader said that India has again become competitive in the international rice market. Rice exporters believe this market improvement will favor trades for the near term as well as rice export demand at this point have a good maturity advantage.

Thailand set a goal for international rice exports of 7 to 7.5 Mn MTS for the year 2022, higher from a projected 6 Mn MTS this 2021, improved by adequate water supply and a weak baht, making Thai rice variants more viable. The Thai Rice Exporters Association president Charoen Laothammatas stated that the sufficient water supply and a weakened baht, now averaging 33 to the US dollar, are anticipated to bolster rice exports in the year to come. The baht's weakness has made Thailand rice export prices more competitive, with the free-on-board prices of 5 percent white rice now offered at USD $390 per MTS.

The Philippines is likely to further increase rice imports to 2.6 Mn MTS this year due to the robust pace of trade and large rice procurement from Vietnam. A report by the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) stated that they are revising upward its rice estimate imports of the Philippines by 300,000 MTS from its previous 2.3 Mn MTS estimate. The USDA stated that this year, a range of circumstances justify why rice imports remain robust, especially in September and October. Pent-up demand and the uncertain fulfillment of late cargoes from leading supplier Vietnam might somewhat explain greater rice imports in September and October.

In Vietnam, rice export prices for 5 percent broken white rice decreased to $410-$414 per MTS from the previous week’s $415-$420 per MTS. One rice exporter said that the market is idle this week with high shipment rates as well as a container crisis continuing massive hurdles. The rice exporter also added that farmers in the Mekong Delta provinces are rushing planting seeds anticipated to finish by the end of December 2021 to avoid drought and salinity. The major winter-spring crop season is due to be completed in February 2022.

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