Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that in the past 11 months, the rice industry has achieved impressive results with export turnover reaching 5.3 billion USD, up 22.4% over the same period last year. This figure not only far exceeded the achievement of the whole year of 2023 but also set a new record with growth of 10.8%.
This result reflects a change in the production structure. Farmers are increasingly focusing on high-quality aromatic rice varieties for export. Thanks to its superior quality, the rice is favored by the international market and commands a higher price than many countries, even at times topping the world.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 95% of rice varieties grown in Vietnam are high-quality varieties, and 89% of rice production is also in this segment. The average export price remains at $627 per ton, despite competition from India's return to the market.
Speaking to Lao Dong, an expert in the agricultural sector said that in the past, international rice traders often divided rice into two types: One was fragrant, long-grain rice from Thailand and the other was white rice.
Thai fragrant rice is produced over a long period of time, with only one crop per year and low productivity. Therefore, Thai fragrant rice is often priced very high, sometimes up to 800 USD/ton. White rice is grown from short-term rice varieties, grown multiple crops per year, with high productivity, but is not fragrant. Therefore, white rice is always priced low, only about 250-300 USD/ton.
However, with the strong development of rice variety research over the past decades, Vietnam now has a set of short-term fragrant rice varieties that can produce 2-3 crops per year, with high yield and fragrant sticky rice. This is a set of varieties that major producing and exporting countries such as India, Thailand, etc. do not have.
More importantly, this variety has helped Vietnam position a new rice segment in the world market, which is short-term fragrant rice with high yield and good quality. This is one of the important factors that helps increase the export price of Vietnamese rice in the world market.
The year 2024 is witnessing a remarkable milestone in Vietnam's rice export industry, with export rice prices reaching record highs, and this year is expected to set a new record for rice export volume.
However, the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) recommends that businesses should flexibly adjust their production and business strategies. They need to be ready to respond to any fluctuations to ensure efficiency and safety in exports. At the same time, businesses also need to avoid unfair competition such as dumping rice, in order to protect and maintain the stability of the national rice export industry.
"Vietnamese businesses should not be subjective, because market developments can also be said to happen unexpectedly. Especially information from the Indian market, the lifting of the ban on rice exports will have a significant impact, businesses must prepare for all possible scenarios," Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director, Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade advised.
According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, the Prime Minister recently chaired a conference on implementing the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice. Following the Prime Minister's direction, we must diversify products, improve the quality of rice, especially building brands.
Therefore, the solutions proposed to build a unique brand, typical of Vietnamese rice, are for Vietnamese enterprises to promote the application of high technology... According to Mr. Tan, these are solutions that we can rest assured to compete fairly with other countries.
To achieve the export target of over 8 million tons of rice, worth 5 billion USD this year, according to the Vietnam Food Association, businesses need to proactively build a quality rice export chain to maintain high export prices.
