Hanoi, July 15 - Vietnam has raised the floor price of its exportable 5-percent broken rice by 4.2 percent to $750 a tonne this week, the Vietnam Food Association said, a move that makes its grain costlier than that of competitor Thailand.
The new floor for Vietnam's top grade of rice, raised from $720 last week, is on a free-on-board basis and loading would be this month and in August, the industry body said in a statement issued late on Monday, without giving a reason for the move.
The floor price -- designed to prevent exporters from selling at very low prices that would hurt farmers -- was imposed last month as the country lifted its ban and set a target to ship 3.5 million tonnes for the first nine months.
Officials of the Ho Chi Minh City-based association were not immediately available for comment.
Vietnam's new floor price makes its 5-percent broken grain more expensive than Thailand's benchmark price for its 100 percent B grade white rice, which edged up to $725 a tonne late last week from $720 a tonne in the previous week.
In a separate statement, the food association said Vietnam exported 116,600 tonnes of rice during the first 11 days of July, bringing the total of shipments since the start of 2008 to 2.42 million tonnes, up 1.3 percent over the same period last year.
Vietnam plans to export 4.5 million tonnes for the whole of 2008, similar to 2007's shipments, when it ranked as the world's third-largest exporter after Thailand and India.