Rice markets in the world's biggest exporters of the grain saw barely any deals amid Christmas and New Year holidays, traders said on Wednesday. Prices in Vietnam, the world's third-biggest rice exporter, were little changed from last week, with Vietnam quoting 5-percent broken rice at $335-$345 a tonne, FOB basis, compared with $335-$350 a week earlier.

"Market is just quiet during this Christmas and New Year holiday; there's only a few traders selling domestically as they have some stockpile left, but no exports," said a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader. "There's some private contracts with the Philippines about to be shipped and there's barely any order from China," said another trader in Vietnam.

Vietnam is estimated to ship 4.88 million tonnes of rice in 2016, down 25.8 percent from a year earlier, the agriculture ministry has said. Thailand is also expected to have no new rice order until after the New Year holiday. "It's quiet prices are the same in Thai baht, but the depreciation of Thai baht made them look less in dollar terms," said a Bangkok-based trader. The trader quoted the benchmark 5-percent broken rice at $355-$360 a tonne on Wednesday, compared to $360 a week ago.

Copyright Reuters, 2017