China increases rice imports, a good opportunity for Vietnam

	What solutions were proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for official agricultural products to China
	Việt Nam asks China to cease militarisation in South China Sea, reasserts sovereignty over islands
	Vietnam attends ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee’s meeting
	Conference helps tackle technical problems facing goods exported to China

Illustrative photo: Internet

According to data from the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Vietnam’s rice exports from March 1 to 31 reached 531,389 tons, worth US$262,953 million.

Accumulated rice exports in the first three months of the year rose by 26.34% in volume to VND1,503 million equivalent to a rise of 12.91% in value to VND730,762 million compared with the same period in 2021.

Notably, a VFA representative said that within the past two weeks, the price of Vietnam’s 100% broken rice export has been revised three times to the total increase of US$17/ton.

The price of 5% broken rice is currently stable at US$415 - 149/ton; 25% broken rice is US$395 - 199/ton. Meanwhile, the price of 100% broken rice is at US$355/ton, about US$7/ton higher than the same rice of Pakistan.

China is one of the largest rice consumers in the world. According to the latest report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), China's milled rice volume in 2022/2023 is forecast at 148 million tons. The rice imports in 2022/2023 are predicted at 5 million tons.

Currently, China has increased demand for rice imports due to a surge in domestic prices and adverse weather. China’s import demand will be a good opportunity for Vietnam in the near future. The price of export rice will not fall due to increasing import demand.

Rice is one of the main agricultural products that Vietnam exports in large quantities to China, but the Vietnamese Trade Counselor to China said that this is also an item that must be competitive with products of other countries and the Chinese products.

Vietnamese rice must be competitive with Cambodian products. In 2021, China was Cambodia's largest rice importer with 309,709 tons.