Vietnam bags over $2 bln from rice exports in five months, up 49%

The outcome followed increasing rice prices. According to the ministry, the average price of rice exported for the months of January through May was $517 per ton, an increase of 5.8% over the same time the previous year.

In terms of markets, the Philippines accounted for 42.4% of Vietnam's total rice exports in the first four months of 2023, making it the country that imported the most rice from Vietnam. Indonesia has the highest growth rate among the major rice-exporting nations to Vietnam. Especially in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland, rice exports to Europe saw a rapid increase.

Vietnamese rice costs more than rice from Thailand and India. In particular, in the early weeks of June, the price of a tonne of 5% broken rice from Vietnam reached $498, compared to the prices of a tonne of the same rice from Thailand and India, which sold for 492 and 453, respectively. 25% broken rice from Vietnam was priced at $478 a tonne, which was $10 more expensive than rice from Thailand and $50 more expensive than rice from India, said Vietnam Food Association.

Notably, whereas the cost of rice in Thailand and India typically varies from day to day, the cost of rice in Vietnam is very steady. This illustrates in part how Vietnamese rice has steadily established its excellence throughout diverse segments.

Changes in domestic rice production are also blamed for such performance. The Mekong Delta's total rice acreage has decreased from 4.3 million hectares in 2015 to 3.8 million hectares in 2018, yet the output value is still rising since higher-quality varieties are boosting export value. This information is provided by the MARD's Department of Crop Production.

The yield of rice in the Mekong Delta is anticipated to remain around 24 million tonnes in 2023, providing a sufficient supply for rice exporters and processors.

To keep the pace of export development going, the sector has to keep spending money on manufacturing and connecting markets. The Sub-National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection's Phan Minh Thong explained that increasing capacity and modernizing procedures from drying rice to storage is key to improving the quality of export rice. He also said that in order to increase added value, it is also necessary to improve deep processing and process rice by-products.

In order for localities to direct production in response to the demand of rice exporters, functional agencies must also create an annual outline of export markets, notably in terms of rice varieties. Reality also demonstrates that when significant investments are made in improved processing, the value of rice will be significantly increased.

Trung An High-tech Agriculture firm's general director, Pham Thai Binh, stated that the firm not only sells rice to the US and EU but also other items manufactured from rice, such as noodles. A ton of rice may be sold for $700, but the same number of derived goods can bring in between $2,500 and $3,000, he pointed out.

Le Thanh Hoa from the MARD Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development asserts that changes made to the rice production procedure have improved the quality of export rice.

The Prime Minister approved the rice export market development strategy until 2023 so that Vietnam's production will match the consumption demand of many countries in the world and Vietnam's rice development orientations despite growing competition among rice exporting countries and uncertainties in the global rice trade, such as natural disasters, epidemics, military conflicts, and trade wars.

Vietnam will retain its 15-20% share of premium long-grain white rice in this way, lower its proportions of medium- and low-quality rice, raise its proportions of jasmine, parboiled, japonica, and organic rice, and broaden its offerings of rice-based goods.

Additionally, Vietnam will alter the structure of the markets for rice exports in a more sustainable manner, focusing on the countries that require high-quality rice and goods derived from rice as well as the established, important markets that import rice.

Source: MARD, Nhan Dan