According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Vietnamese enterprises won the bid to supply rice to the Philippines, including the Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) with 50,000 tons; Gia International Company (Gia International Corp.) won the tender of 50,000 tons; Tan Long Group JSC 50,000 tons and Hiep Loi Food Company is 25,000 tons.

Earlier, in early July 2017, the National Food Authority of the Philippines (NFA) officially invited bids to buy 250,000 tons of government-owned (G2P) rice instead of intergovernmental (G2G) like before.

There are a total of 20 qualified businesses participating in the rice race for the Philippines, of which eight are from Vietnam and the rest are from Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar.

For deliveries, the winning bidder will deliver to the Philippines between August and September 2017. Of this, 120,000 tonnes of rice is expected to be delivered to NFA in August and the remaining 130,000 tonnes will arrive in September.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, rice export volume in the first six months of this year was estimated at 2.8 million tons and 1.2 billion USD, up 6.3% in volume and up 4.9% in price. Value over the same period in 2016. Rice export price reached $ 445.5 per ton, down 0.9% over the same period in 2016.

China continues to rank first in the rice import market of Vietnam with 46.5% market share. Philippines is Vietnam’s second largest rice import market with 8.6% market share. Rice exports to this market in the first five months of 2017 reached 237 thousand tons and more than 90 million USD, up 23% in volume and up 10% in value over the same period in 2016.

(According to Cafef)