Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s rice exports in the first ten months of 2016 reached 4.2 million tonnes, earning 1.9 billion USD in revenue, a year-on-year decrease of 21.2 percent in volume and 16.9 percent in value.
In October alone, the country earned 164 million USD from shipping 368,000 tonnes of rice abroad.
China remained the leading importer of Vietnamese rice in the first three quarters of 2016, accounting for 35.4 percent of market share. Vietnam exported 1.35 million tonnes of rice worth 613.8 million USD to China during the period, down 23 percent in volume and 13.9 percent in value from a year earlier.
A decline has seen in rice exports to other markets like Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Ivory Coast and Hong Kong.
However, Vietnam’s rice export to Ghana and Indonesia increased strongly. Ghana became Vietnam’s second largest rice importer in the first nine months with 387,000 tonnes worth 189.6 million USD, up 41.8 percent in volume and 36.2 percent in value compared to the same period last year.
By the end of September, Indonesia spent 142.5 million USD buying 359,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam, a 21.5-fold rise in volume and a 22.5-fold increase in value.
Vietnam’s rice export to Angola increased 4.4-fold and 3.5-fold in volume and value, respectively.
According to the Vietnam Food Association, domestic businesses have a chance to boost rice exports as the Philippines plans to import 293,100 tonnes of rice from Vietnam to meet food demand during the 2017 between-crop period.-VNA
