11-month rice export down in volume, up in value

Workers load bags of rice in Song Hau Food Company under the Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) — In the first 11 months of this year, Vietnam's rice exports exceeded 5.7 million tonnes, down by 3 percent, but earnings surged by 9.7 percent to nearly 2.83 billion USD over the same period in 2019 thanks to export price increase.

In November alone, the nation exported 351,515 tonnes of rice, earning 189 million USD with an average price of 537.6 USD per tonne. The figures showed a reduction of 3.3 percent in volume but increases of 12.8 percent in turnover and by 16.7 percent in price.

During the first 11 months of this year, the Philippines was the largest export market for Vietnamese rice with a volume of 1.94 million tonnes, accounting for 34 percent of the country's total, earning 910.16 million USD. The figures were down 1.7 percent in volume but up 11.8 percent in value year-on-year.

Some markets with strong growth in rice export volume from Vietnam included Indonesia (up 181 percent), Australia (58.2 percent) and the EU (23 percent).

However, rice exports to some other markets saw a high reduction, such as Iraq (65.6 percent), Hong Kong (24.7 percent) and Senegal (32.5 percent).

While 2020 has been a successful year for Vietnamese rice exports, more must be done to accelerate the development of the national rice brand, experts have said.

At the World Rice Trade Conference 2020 held by The Rice Trader (TRT) in earlier December, Vietnamese rice ST25 was named the second-best rice in the world. Last year, it was given first prize.

The TRT World Rice Conference is the largest annual gathering of commercial and professional rice industry participants in the world.

This is good news for Vietnamese rice and the rice exports are forecast to grow strongly in the future.

The prize is also an opportunity to create a brand for Vietnamese rice, according to the agricultural experts, because after more than 30 years of exporting, Vietnam's rice industry only has a national brand logo.

Vietnam is among the world's top rice exporters with the value the second highest in the world. Therefore, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently approved a project to develop Vietnam's rice brand. Specifically, by 2030, Vietnam is hoped to have stable, efficient and sustainable regions producing rice for export to build the world's leading brand in food quality and safety for Vietnamese rice./.