Move to stabilise rice prices

Ho Chi Minh City - rice (paddy) rice prices are dropping dramatically in the domestic market and government intervention is necessary to restore stability, a senior expert said.
The director of the Mekong Rice Research Institute, Dr. Le Van Banh, said prices of rice in local markets has recently come down VND6 200-VND6, 400 to VND5, 500 per kilogram.
He attributed the drop to a bumper crop of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta in winter and spring crops that would end in early April.
With a total area of ​​1.54 million hectares and an average yield of 6.6 tons per hectare, farmers in the Delta is expected to reap more than 10 million tons of rice and 6.5 million tonnes of rice this crop.
Banh said 4 million tons of rice is used for food, animal feed and as seed rice, and the remaining 6 million tons (3 to 4 million tonnes of rice) are sold in the market.
"This great offer could exert great pressure on rice prices /," he said.
On Friday, traders in the provinces of An Giang and Kien Giang bought dried shell for VND5, 500 - VND5, 600 per kilo while the husked rice to be processed by 25 percent and 15 percent rice game sold for VND7, 400 and VND7, 600 per kilo, respectively.
Meanwhile, large volumes of rice harvested in the winter-spring crop in Cambodia is also placed on the local market through the long border shared by the provinces in the Delta with the neighboring country, further increasing pressure on prices rice.
With a large volume of supply, the Government should increase the amount of rice / rice to buy stocks, Banh said.
The volume of rice stocks doubled to 4 million tonnes of rice to 2 million tons of rice, representing 60 percent of commercial rice crop in winter and spring, he added.
Food Association of Viet Nam (AGV) said its members had bought 2 million tonnes of rice since the beginning of the month.
However, high interest rates on bank loans were hampering its plans to buy more to keep the reserves, he added.
If the Government to subsidize part of the interest rates, members of VFA could boost rice purchases of stocks and thus boost the local market consumption, Banh said.
He noted that production costs are increasing significantly due to the prices of all materials were on the rise. Production costs for this year's harvest, winter and spring was 30 percent higher than last year's harvest, he said.
He said that to ensure sustainable production, farmers and businesses, including rice mills and exporters, consumer contracts must be signed before each crop.

(Source: http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/Economy/209567/Move-to-stabilise-rice-prices.html)