In the last days of November 2022, Vietnamese rice’s export prices continue to rise, keeping the highest level in the world and surpassing Thailand. According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the selling price of rice 5% broken for exports is offered at 438 USD/tonne, up 10 USD/tonne; rice 25% broken is at 418 USD/tonne, up 10 USD/tonne.
At the above level, the price of Vietnamese rice is currently about 20 USD/tonne higher than Thai rice of the same type.
Vietnamese rice is chosen by a consumer at a supermarket in France. (Photo: QH)
MANY MARKETS CHOOSE VIETNAMESE RICE
Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An High-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, analyzed that: Vietnam is developing many new rice varieties, improving the production process, and the amount of fresh rice is higher than the same type of Thai rice, so it is selected by many markets. His own company also signed many export orders for the beginning of next year to Europe, the US, South Korea, and Singapore.
“The export price of Vietnamese rice in new contracts is quite high, even higher than the actual average export price of Vietnam. For example, rice 5% broken is exported to Korea at 467 USD /tonne while the price announced by VFA is only 438 USD /tonne. The export price of broken rice to Singapore is also higher than the average export price of rice 5% broken around 20 USD, ” Mr. Binh shared.
Not only white rice, aromatic rice, and Japonica rice are also ordered for export at good prices. Mr. Phan Van Có, Marketing Director of Vrice Co., Ltd., said that the export price of aromatic rice to the Middle East, Europe, etc is up to 600 USD/tonne, Japonica rice alone is at about 700 USD/tonne.
According to Mr. Co’s explanation, Vietnam rice is having good conditions when the world food supply declines due to factors such as political conflict, inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, etc. On the other hand, in previous years, China was a major rice exporter of rice, however, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused this country to restrict its exports. Besides, India has banned the export of broken rice and restricted white rice 5% broken this year.
“It is forecast that Vietnamese rice prices in the first months of 2023 will continue to remain high, even continue to rise,” Mr. Co said.
ABOLISH COMPETITION LIKE “I HURT MYSELF”
Vietnamese rice has recently conquered many difficult markets. However, experts warn that the value and brand of Vietnamese rice have not developed properly, not to mention that there is still a competitive situation of “I hurt myself”.
Mr. Phan Van Có, Marketing Director of Vrice Co., Ltd., pointed out that the lack of solidarity and consensus among domestic companies, specifically, the competition to buy and sell has caused the loss of Vietnamese rice’s reputation.
“Some of our rice suppliers delay in delivering when market prices are high, they even disconnect to sell rice to another company. In addition, some rice exporters intentionally lower the price and mix rice to sell, causing the export price to be down. If Vietnamese rice exporters consciously keep the reputation, Vietnamese rice is even more valuable ” said Mr. Co.
Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An High-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, also commented that when the free trade agreements come into force, Vietnamese rice exporters have many benefits and great opportunities to compete equally with Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, etc. However, due to the bad trade culture, specifically lowering the price to attract customers, Vietnamese rice can only be sold for less than 1,000 USD/tonne instead of 2000 USD/tonne.
“Our clean rice has been sold to domestic consumers for many years at 25,000-30,000 VND/kg, equivalent to over 1,000 USD/tonne. So, the selling price in Europe must be 1,500-2,000 USD/tonne to equal the real value. That means if Vietnamese exporters unite, the price of Vietnamese rice sold to Europe can be higher” said Mr. Binh.
Leaders of Trung An High-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company also said that rice production in our country is still lacking leaders and chains of links so the gained value is not high. If there is a link chain, technology for rice production can only be applied, costs are reduced to the maximum, and international standards are achieved, thereby increasing the value of rice exports.
“However, to develop large rice paddy fields of hundreds of thousands of hectares, enterprises need capital to support rice production chains and create a brand name in international markets” Mr. Binh stressed.
Sharing the same idea with Mr. Binh, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, said that the link between farmers and cooperatives with enterprises now is weak. Farmers use a very large amount of seeds, causing the input costs to increase many times, and depending heavily on chemical fertilizers. The rate of rice consumption through traders and contract breaking is still high. In addition, despite exporting a lot, there are not many Vietnamese rice brands on the international market.
Facing the above situation, according to Mr. Nam, the State should issue a policy to support enterprises to build Vietnamese rice brands for export and be labeled with Vietnamese rice national certification. In addition, the authorities should support the establishment of Vietnam rice introduction and promotion offices in key markets.
Vietnamese rice’s prices are on top of the world. (Photo: Internet)
RICE EXPORTS TO THE US AND EUROPE INCREASED BY MORE THAN 80%
According to the MARD, Vietnam’s rice exports in October 2022 reached more than 713,500 tonnes, worth over 341 million USD. This shows an increase of 22% in quantity and 24% in value compared to the previous month. Thus, the past October has become the month with the largest amount of rice exported in the history of the rice industry.
In general, Vietnam’s rice exports reached more than 6 million tonnes in the first 10 months of this year, worth over 2.9 million USD. The figure is up 17% in quantity and 8% in value compared to the same period last year.
Regarding the market, in the first 10 months of the year, rice exports to the Philippines reached more than 2.7 million tonnes, accounting for 45%, and worth over 1.2 billion USD. Exports to difficult markets also recorded high growth. In particular, rice exports to the US increased by 85% and to the EU by 82%.
It is expected that in the remaining two months of the year, at least 600,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice will be exported per month. Thus, this year Vietnam will export 7.2-7.3 million tonne of rice, worth 3.3-3.5 billion USD./.