Vietnam to earn over US$3.15 billion from rice exports

According to the Agro Processing Market Development Authority (AgroTrade) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country shipped 5.7 million tonnes of rice abroad during January-November and bagged US$2.9 billion, increasing 5.6% in quantity and 17.7% in value against the same time last year.

Accounting for 24.1% of the market share, China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice. However, exports to the East Asian market in the first months of this year experienced a fall of 39.1% in volume and 30% in value to 1.24 million tonnes and US$636.2 million, respectively.

In stark contrast, substantial surge was seen in the shipments to Indonesia (up 65.8 times), Iraq (2.6 times), China’s Hong Kong (71.1%), the Philippines (58.5%), and Malaysia (17.2%).

Notably, the price of exported rice hit US$504 per tonne on average during January-October, up 12.3%. White rice exports accounted for 51% of the total earnings, jasmine rice 32%, glutinous rice 12%, and japonica rice 5%.

The AgroTrade said that rice exports have shown positive signals recently, with many securing contracts.

Tan Long Group won the right to export 118,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines on November 20, to go along with the firm’s other large export contracts to the Republic of Korea.

Between now and the year’s end, Indonesia and the Philippines plan to import more rice via international bidding and government contracts, while Egypt is forecast to buy 500,000 tonnes of the food at the beginning of next year as the country reduced its cultivation land.