BANGKOK, Oct 6: Thai rice prices are likely to drop further over the next week with few overseas buyers in sight due to unattractively high prices, traders said on Thursday. Thai 100 per cent parboiled grade was down $3-5 at $290 per ton, free-on-board (FOB) on Thursday from a week earlier.

The domestic price of parboiled rice grade was down 300 baht at 11,000 baht a ton ($272) from last week’s 11,300 baht.

Traders said Pakistan sold some 25 per cent broken grade rice this week at about $223-224 a ton, FOB, about $30 a ton cheaper than the Thai rice.

“Vietnam is not offering and Thai prices are high. Pakistan is offering the cheapest price right now,” said one trader.

Vietnam, the world’s second-largest exporter after Thailand, may halt rice exports for the second time this year to ensure there is sufficient food for people hit by recent flash floods.

While the food association, which oversees rice production and exports, has not ordered a halt to signing new contracts, traders told Reuters in Vietnam that exporters had been told verbally to stay away from fresh deals.

Thai traders said they were keeping a close eye on Indonesia, one of Asia’s top rice importers, where the government has said it will issue a permit this month for its state logistics agency Bulog to buy 250,000 tons of rice.

Thailand is expecting heavy rains over the next few days and landslide warnings have been issued for the west and south, but these are not key rice growing areas and no overall impact on the rice crop was likely, traders said.

The Agriculture Ministry estimates the next main crop at 21.27 million tons of paddy, up 14 per cent from the previous crop.

“We expect a bigger main crop thanks to the favourable weather. The harvest season is due to start as usual in early November,” said Kriangsak Tapananon of the Thai Rice Millers Association.

Traders said they expected the government to sell its remaining stock of 1.7 million tons, of which 1.2 million tons are fragrant rice, in coming weeks.—Reuters