Rice prices "cool down" in the middle of the Winter-Spring crop
In mid-March 2026, many localities in the Mekong Delta region entered the peak of winter-spring rice harvest - the most important production season of the year. However, contrary to farmers' expectations, rice prices on the market tended to decrease slightly compared to the previous period.
Market records on March 16, 2026, many popular rice varieties are being purchased by traders at a lower level than at the beginning of the crop.
Rice OM18/Dai Thom 8 fluctuates around 5,550 - 5,650 VND/kg; OM5451 is at 5,400 - 5,500 VND/kg. Some other varieties such as OM34/380 are about 5,100 - 5,200 VND/kg, IR50404 is about 5,200 - 5,300 VND/kg, and CL555 fluctuates around 5,300 - 5,350 VND/kg.
For the high-quality rice group, the price is slightly higher but also does not increase significantly. ST25 is usually purchased at about 6,500 - 6,600 VND/kg, Long An sticky rice is about 6,300 - 6,400 VND/kg, Japonica DS1 is about 6,900 - 7,000 VND/kg, and Japonica 3 seasons is about 6,400 - 6,600 VND/kg.
According to rice traders in the Dong Thap and An Giang regions, rice prices decreased mainly due to rapid supply increase when many localities harvested at the same time. Meanwhile, the purchasing activities of businesses and traders are still quite cautious, making the rice market somewhat quiet.
The last straw
This is not the first time farmers have faced the harsh cycle of rice prices. Previously, many farmers had faced the problem of increasing production costs.
After the fluctuations of the world energy market, the prices of many agricultural materials such as fertilizers, pesticides and fuels for production have tended to increase, pushing rice production costs higher than before.
Mr. Nguyen Van Doi - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Binh Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative, Lap Vo commune - said that after gasoline prices increased, harvest prices also increased from 280,000 VND to 500,000 VND/cong (1,300m2). Previously, expenses such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and labor all increased, causing total production costs to increase.
Not only that, due to the impact of global climate change, many unseasonal rains appeared, causing rice fields to fall, and the field surface to become abnormally soft and mushy... This not only affects the quality of rice grains but also increases post-harvest losses.
Mr. Cao Tho Truong - Deputy Director of Binh Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative, Lap Vo commune - said: "In many fields, the amount of falling rice is even more than the amount of seed rice that was sown initially... In particular, in some places, the loss amount is up to over 30kg/cong.
According to Mr. Truong, in addition to the disadvantage of weather, the increase in fuel prices also causes many combine harvesters to operate at faster speeds to save costs. This inadvertently causes rice to be left behind or scattered more on the field.
Through calculations by some farming households, the total production cost for each hectare of Winter-Spring rice can be up to tens of millions of VND. Meanwhile, with the common rice price around 5,500 - 5,600 VND/kg, it will push farmers to the wall of the burden of profit. Therefore, many experts suggest that it is necessary to quickly implement effective solutions to stabilize output for farmers in the peak harvest period as it is now.
