Rice export revenue is expected to hit $40 billion this year as prices of Vietnamese rice exceeded their Thai and Indian peers.
According to the Ministry, in June 2018, prices of rice in Thailand and India went down. However, in June, the export price of Vietnam’s five percent broken rice was US$450 per ton, higher than that of India with $410 and Thailand $435.
The Vietnam Food Association and the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in the middle of May, prices of Vietnam’s five percent broken rice hit $458-462 per ton and it was the highest prices within four past years.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade explained the fall in rice prices of Thailand and India because there was a decline in demand from their traditional markets and the supplies exceeded the demand in its major markets while prices of India’s rice exports went down because of poor consumption in Africa and Bangladesh.
For instance, the average price of paddy (IR50404) in the Mekong Delta region reached just VND5,200 per kilo and that of Jasmine was VND5,800 per kilo, VND100-200 per kilo lower than the previous month.
Experts said prices of Vietnamese rice export have gone up gradually because of high rate of fragrant rice with 80 percent. It is projected that by the end of June, local prices of rice will go up because exports to the Philippines will grow again.
At present, Vietnamese rice is being sold at a high volume; accordingly, rice exports in June is estimated to reach 604,000 tons; subsequently, Vietnam’s rice exports are estimated to reach 3.57 million tons in the first six months worth at $1.81 billion, up 25% in volume and 42% in value against the same period last year.
As per the latest figure in the first months of the year, China maintained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice with 30 percent of the market share, followed by Indonesia with 18.7 percent.
Though rice exports to China shank 21.3 percent against the same period of last year, other markets showed a rise; for instance, Indonesia with 596,000 tons, Iraq with 150,000 tons, Malaysia with 273,000 tons and the US with 26,200 tons.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said that this year, the Ministry strives to export 6.5 million tons of high quality rice.
As per AgroTrade’s assessment, major agro-products in the first six months has seen good growth; besides, wooden furniture and tea have positive development and its position in the world market is higher.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong fretted about protectionist policies in big markets such as the US, EU, and China. Plus, high export value in late 2017 posed challenges for the sector to end 2018. Rice prices hardly maintained high as early year because growth in rice production in the world led to low demand in some countries.
Before, in an online meeting with exporters presided by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh worried that protectionism returned in some nations; accordingly, the government should take heed to support domestic enterprises to push up production of high quality commodities for exports and connect demand-supply as well as production chains.
Furthermore, related agencies must make efforts in negotiating and developing more markets so as to keep export markets stable; additionally, they should complete regulations on exports and simplify administrative reforms to facilitate exporters.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in addition to good rice exports in the first six months, vegetables export is estimated to hit $2 billion, up 20 percent; cashew with $1.71 billion, up 16.7 percent in volume and 16.4 percent in value; fisheries with $3.94 billion, up 10.5 percent.
