Imports of Indian rice surge, Ministry sets up inspection team

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has set up a working group to inspect the implementation of the law on rice imports and exports at five local rice import and export companies.

They include: Tan Long Group; Thuan Minh Import-Export Joint Stock Company; Loc Troi Group; Tan Dong Tien Joint Stock Company and Khanh Tam Company Limited.

The Ministry has issued an express document requesting these firms to assign representatives to work with the Ministry's inspection team at the office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Ho Chi Minh City. The Ministry also requested the companies to prepare reports on their import and trade of Indian rice.

According to data from the Indian Ministry of Trade and Industry, in the first three months of 2021, India's rice exports to Vietnam reached nearly 247,000 tons, worth $74.8 million. The figures rose by more than 3,250 times in volume and nearly 554 times in value compared to 76 tons and $135 million in the same period of 2020.

This is the largest amount of rice that India has ever exported to Vietnam. Previously, from 2019 and earlier, India's rice exports to Vietnam only reached a modest level of 500 tons to several thousand tons a year.

In 2020, Vietnam imported 46,700 tons of rice from India, an increase of more than 9.5 times compared to 2019 and the upward trend continued in the first months of 2021.