Rice prices are high, Hau Giang farmers are still worried about output

Not as excited as the previous crop, Mr. Nguyen Van Be (Long My district, Hau Giang province) is currently quite worried when traders are still hesitant to place deposits for the 2024 summer-autumn crop.

Mr. Be said: "In the previous case, traders proactively called me to make a deposit, but in this case, I had to run to find it. Calling 2-3 people, they hesitated to reschedule because the price of rice sometimes increased and sometimes decreased, so Haven't dared to buy yet".

It is known that Mr. Be's 8 hectares of land will be harvested in about a week. This is also the reason why this old farmer is anxious, running around looking for traders for the past few days.

"If we can't sell the rice right away after harvesting, we have to bring it home to dry and store. Drying is very difficult during this rainy season. If the weather is cloudy for many days and the rice sprouts, then even if we can sell it later, the price will be squeezed," said Mr. Be.

Normally, about 20 days before the rice harvest, Mr. Nguyen Van Bay (rice trader in Hau Giang province) will make a deposit for each household, but in this case, he only made a deposit 3-5 days before harvest.

Talking about the reason, Mr. Bay said: "Last season, I lost nearly 20 million VND in deposit because I placed an order early, then the rice price dropped and I couldn't negotiate the price. Therefore, the purchasing power is not as hot as before, the rice price has been stagnant for the past few days so I'm also cautious, afraid of losing again."

According to the agricultural sector of Hau Giang province, as of early August, the whole province had harvested more than 62,000 hectares out of a total of nearly 74,200 hectares of summer-autumn rice sown. Unharvested summer-autumn rice areas are concentrated in Long My district, Phung Hiep district, Long My town...

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in the first 6 months of 2024, the whole country harvested 3.48 million hectares of rice, an increase of 0.5% over the same period in 2023; the average yield was 67.1 quintals/ha, an increase of 0.7 quintals/ha; the output on the harvested area reached 23.3 million tons, an increase of 1.6%.

Rice industry traders believe that rice products may face challenges in price and rice quantity if in the second half of 2024 India lifts the ban on rice exports. However, up to this point, India has not made a clear move on whether to continue banning or abolishing the white rice export order.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from now until the end of the year, the Ministry will continue to coordinate to organize conferences to assess the situation of domestic rice production and rice export; listen to difficulties in production and export to have timely proposals and solutions.