Bangkok, Aug 6 - The price of Thai 100 percent B grade white rice fell 2.7 percent for the second consecutive week on Wednesday, and was likely to drop further next week due to sluggish demand, exporters said.
Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, has shipped 6.7 million tonnes so far this year, up 45 percent from 4.6 million tonnes in the same period of last year, Commerce Ministry data show.
The median price quoted by Bangkok exporters was $710 per tonne, down from last week's $730 per tonne and well below a record high of $1,080 per tonne marked in April.
"There is no key buyer in the market and it's a very quiet week," one exporter said.
The price was expected to fall further next week as there was no positive news to boost the market while more supply was likely to come onto the market, traders said.
Thailand expects a harvest of 7.6 million tonnes of paddy rice, up from only 4 million tonnes last year.
However, traders and exporters said they expected more than 7.6 million tonnes of paddy to be harvested in August-September as farmers rushed to grow more rice to take profit after they saw rice prices peak in April.
Traders said news that Thailand planned to sell rice from its stockpile in government-to-government deals over the next few months also added pressure on prices, signalling there would be no major buyers left on the market after the sales.
"The news had a psychological impact on Thai rice prices and will drag prices lower over the next week," one trader said.
Thailand said last week it was in talks to sell at least 850,000 tonnes of its stock of 2.57 million tonnes to Iran and Nigeria in a bid to clear warehouses for the new intervention scheme due to start in November.
It said Iran was looking to buy 600,000 toones, while Nigeria was expecting to buy 250,000 tonnes.
Thailand aims to sell 10 million tonnes of rice in 2008, slightly below the record of 10.13 million tonnes in 2004 and 9.5 million tonnes it shipped in 2007.