Vietnam firm to supply 587,000-MT rice to NFA

MANILA, Philippines - The National Food Authority (NFA) has awarded to Vietnam Southern Food Corp. (Vinafood) the contract to supply 586,554.37 metric tons of rice at $664.90/MT.

Vinafood submitted last Dec. 15 the lowest bid of $664.90/MT for 600,000 MT of rice classified as 25-percent brokens, well-milled long grain.

The Dec. 15 bidding was the  NFA’s fourth rice tender for the grains agency’s 2010 stockpile.

Vinafood also secured the contract to supply 249,252.70 MT of rice based on its Dec. 8 bid offer $618.95/MT for the first 100,000 MT, $689.75/MT for the second 100,000 MT and $692.50/MT for 49,252.70 MT.

Vinafoods’s competitors during the NFA’s Dec. 15 bidding included Louis Dreyfus, Toepfer International, Chaiyaporn Rice Co. Ltd and Daewoo International Corp.

Based on the partial awards for the Dec. 1 bidding of 509,950 MT; the Dec. 8 partial award of 474,252.70 MT and the Dec. 15 partial award of 586,554.37 MT, the NFA needs 229,242.03 MT more to complete the 1.8 million metric tons it was trying to secure form the three rice tenders in December.

The NFA, did not say if it would conduct additional tenders after holding four tenders.

“Things are still fluid,” NFA Deputy Administrator Ludovico Jarina said, adding that the Inter-agency committee is still evaluating a number of factors that include palay/rice production next year, climate change and unforeseen events such as the possible explosion of Mayon Volcano which could affect palay/rice production of the Bicol region and other disasters such as the recent National Capital Region flooding which destroyed 150,000 bags of NFA rice stocks.