Local rice exporters earned US$249 million this month, up 74.2% year-on-year, thanks to the global price hike of rice. Vietnamese rice price surged by $45 per ton in January to $420-430 per ton.
Vietnam expects to export 6 million tons of rice in 2018
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The Vietnamese rice export industry had a successful year in 2017. According to VFA, local businesses exported nearly 5.8 billion tons of rice last year, earning $2.5 billion in revenue. Vietnam has exported rice to 132 markets in the world and China remains Vietnam's biggest buyer.
VFA said Indonesia will import rice from Vietnam and Thailand again in 2018 to increase reserves, as domestic prices have been rising to almost double the floor price.
Similarly, National Food Board of the Philippines approved to import up to 250,000 tons of rice to offset declining inventories due to unfavorable weather conditions in 2017.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 2018 world rice production forecast issued in late 2017, the main factor behind this year’s rice trade expansion is increased output from Vietnam, Pakistan, and Myanmar, three of the world’s top six rice exporting countries.
The USDA report stated that though global rice output fell by 20%in 2017 against 2016, as a result of weak outlook for grain products, long, heavy rainfall, spring floods, and other unfavorable weather phenomena, traditional rice importing markets in Southeast Asia are looking at bright prospects in early 2018.
In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where rice crops were heavily influenced by harsh weather, demand for rice imports will also increase in 2018. Rising import demand is supported by increased purchasing power in Africa and the Middle East, while China continues to be a leading importer of rice from neighboring regions.
Vietnam, therefore, will witness increasing revenue from rice exports to several large consumer markets.
Dang Thi Lien, director of Long An Food Stuff Company, said there are many rice import contracts from China and the Philippines and the price of rice also increased by $20 or $50 per ton.
Nguyen Thanh Long, director of Gao Viet Company, also thinks that rice exports will improve in the first quarter of 2018 if supply is sufficient. The harvest time in several countries like Pakistan and Myanmar already passed while Thailand may harvest late by a month.
According to the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in early January 2018, rice producers in the Mekong Delta harvested rice on 860,000 hectares, with an average yield of 5.3 tons per hectare.
Some 764,000 tons of rice remain in the inventory, 209,000 tons of which belong to Vietnam Southern Food Corporation, 107,000 tons to Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, and the rest to other companies in Vietnam Food Association.
As of January 11, cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta region harvested 2017 autumn-winter rice on 860,000 hectares and planted 1.35 million hectares of the winter-spring 2017-2018 crop.
However, local firms still need to improve to meet food hygiene and safety requirements and better strategies to compete with India or Pakistan in the African markets.
