Vietnamplus

Vietnam needs a long-term strategy to increase the quality of its rice exports to create sustainable growth in the future, experts say.

The Thai government has affirmed that it is still using the market-oriented production principle policy to stabilise the prices of rice according to the mechanism.

Export prices for Indian and Thai rice increased this week on the back of an appreciation in their domestic currencies, while that of Vietnam went down over quiet demand.

Vietnam earned 1.21 billion USD from exporting an estimated 2.83 million tonnes of rice during January-May, declining 20.7 percent in value and 4 percent in volume as compared to the same time last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

The prices of Vietnam’s sticky rice are facing a downward trend due to its over-supply and dependence on a single large market.

Vietnam earned 1.1 billion USD from exporting 2.16 million tonnes of rice in the first four months of 2018, up 35.7 percent in value and 21.7 percent in volume.

High rice import demand from Vietnam’s major markets in the second quarter is expected to help exporters continue good overseas shipments in the first three months of this year.

Vietnamese rice exports have got off to a positive start right from the outset of the year, with promising signs from traditional rice importers like the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association revealed that rice exports reached a record high last year with most of the demand coming from Benin in West Africa.

Vietnam shipped abroad nearly 5.2 million tonnes of rice worth over 2.27 billion USD in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the figure of the entire 2016 at 4.9 million tonnes.

Many farmers in the Mekong Delta are regretting that they did not stockpile any rice as prices rise continuously and supply remains limited.

The Thai Government needs to find the right markets for organic rice before encouraging farmers to increase the cultivating area from 300,000 rai (48,000 hectares) to 1 million rai in 2019, said President of the Thai Rice Exporters Association Charoen Leothamatas.

Vietnam will reform rice production to gain sustainable development in the production and export of rice, according to Vietnam’s Rice Market Development Strategy from 2017 to 2020.

The Vietnam Food Association aims to ship 2 million tonnes of rice to foreign countries in the last five months of the year, increasing total rice export for the whole year to 5.2 million tonnes.

The price of Vietnamese export rice has hit a three-year high thanks to the rising import demands and the restricted svupply.

Encouraging signs for rice exports after a down-period have boosted the Vietnamese rice market.

Thailand’s plan to sell all its rice reserves of about eight million tonnes this year has sparked concerns that this move will undermine Vietnam’s rice exports.

Myanmar is eying on Pakistan in a bid to increase rice exports. It is competing with other regional countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Pakistan on the rice market, despite lackin

Rice traders from China and the Mekong Delta province of An Giang met in the Vietnamese locality on November 18 to discuss measures to boost rice exports to the Chinese market.

Thailand’s government has decided to increase subsidy for Hom Mali (jasmine) rice farmers and take other measures to stabilise the rice market