Rice harvest in the Mekong Delta region.(Photo: nongnghiep.vn)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese rice exports have got off to a positivestart right from the outset of the year, with promising signs from traditional riceimporters like the Philippines and Indonesia.
The Ministry of Trade of Indonesia has recently approved the import of 500,000tonnes of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to fix the insufficient rice supplyand price hike in the domestic market.
Average-grade rice in Indonesia is currently sold at 14,100 rupiah perkilogramme, a far cry from the regulated floor price of 9,450 rupiah.
The Indonesian Government worked to expand rice distributing network to ensurerice supply to local residents; however, rice price still scaled up as demandoutstrips supply. The Indonesia Logistics Bureau (BULOG) said that the countryonly had 950,000 tonnes in stockpile.
Indonesia planned to purchase rice from its neighbouring nations from the endof January.
Earlier, the National Food Authority of the Philippines also agreed to import 250,000tonnes of rice and planned to open rice purchase bidding right in January. Thecountry’s rice stock is enough for use in only three days while the minimumamount must satisfy demand for 15 days.
The Vietnamese rice market, as a result, has become more vibrant. After onemonth, average free-on-board (FOB) price of one tonne of rice increased to 400USD from 390-395 USD. Prices of dried grain and material rice surge by 350 VNDper kilogramme as compared to the end of December, 2017.
According to the Vietnam Food Association, local businesses exported nearly 5.8billion tonnes of rice and earned 2.5 billion USD in revenue. As of January 11,cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta region harvested 2017 autumn-winter riceon 860,000 hectares and planted 1.35 million hectares of the winter-spring2017-2018 crop.-VNA
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