Vietnam has lifted its ban on the signing of rice export deals, but will only allow contracts for a limited quantity as it caps exports of the grain in the first nine months of this year at 3.5 million tonnes, an industry official said.
Companies can sign new deals for "several thousand tonnes", with a minimum price of $800 per tonne, on a free-on-board basis, the Vietnam Food Association official said on Wednesday, citing a directive from the Industry and Trade Ministry.

"The quantity will not match companies' demand as the country's rice export volume by September should stay at 3.5 million tonnes," the official told Reuters.

Vietnam exported 2.2 million tonnes of rice between Jan. 1 and June 13, the Vietnam Food Association said, without giving any comparative figures.

The food association official, who declined to be named, said rice prices were expected to remain firm after the ban in place since March is lifted, despite an easing in prices in Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter.

Traders said Vietnam's rice prices would remain firm, even though Mekong Delta farmers are due to see their harvest peak early next month and the country has secured a deal to sell 600,000 tonnes of the grain to the Philippines.

The Philippines agreed on Wednesday to buy 600,000 tonnes of rice at $940 a tonne, including cost and freight, from Vietnam in a government-to-government deal that wraps up Manila's purchases of its national staple for this year. [ID:nMAN15472].

A trader in Ho Chi Minh City said 25-percent broken rice sold to Manila would stand around $750 a tonne on a free-on-board basis, in line with the current indicative prices on the domestic market of between $700 and $750 a tonne .

Vietnam's floor price for 5-percent broken rice of $800 a tonne compares with $760 a tonne for Thai grain of the same grade, making Vietnamese rice less attractive to importers, traders said.

"Vietnam's prices are still high and buyers have yet to make any quick decision after the deal with Manila," another trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.