HAMBURG: South Korea’s state-backed Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. has issued an international tender to purchase an estimated 100,800 metric tons of rice mainly to be sourced from the United States and China, European traders said on Thursday.

The deadline for submissions of price offers in the tender is March 21.

Of the total, around 77,700 tons should be sourced from the United States, about 22,000 tons from China and a minor volume from Vietnam.

The tender seeks medium brown grade rice from the US and short brown rice from China for arrival in South Korea in a range of consignments between May 2024 and January 2025, they said.

Vietnam 2024 rice exports seen falling

The new tender is believed to indicate that the corporation made no purchase in its previous rice tender on Feb. 20 seeking 88,800 tons from the United States and China. Prices offered in the February tender were believed to have been above expectations, traders said.

The corporation often takes several weeks to make decisions on its purchases in international tenders, sometimes requesting rice samples for testing.

Published Date: March 14, 2024