Revenue from rice exports sees year-on-year increase of 32 percent

With 3.86 million tons of rice exported, Vietnam earned $2 billion from January to July.

Photo from tapchìtaichinh

Vietnam earned $2 billion from rice exports in the first seven months of this year resulting in a year-on-year increase of 32 per cent.

According to a report from VNA, a State-run news agency,  from January to July, the country sold 3.86 million tons of rice abroad, a year-on-year increase of 12.8 per cent.

In the first half of this year, China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice with 1.13 million tons, followed by Indonesia with 776,000 tons, the African market with 537,000 tons, the Philippines with 429,000 tons, and Malaysia with 305,000 tons.

Vietnamese exporters have been paying attention to the Chinese market, which accounts for 40 per cent of their total rice exports. However, China’s import policies and technical barriers pose considerable challenges for Vietnamese firms, according to Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien, Chairman and General Director of the Gentraco Feed Joint Stock Company, as quoted by VNA.

“China is a choosy market. If Vietnamese products, such as pork, vegetables, and fruits, don't meet quality requirements, they will be rejected,” he said.

Mr. Kien recommended that the Government support exporters in terms of policies and that the agricultural sector should give guidance to farmers to produce high-quality products that meet market demands. 

VNA also quoted experts as saying that demands for rice will grow in the last quarter of the year. The five traditional importers, namely Cuba, Iraq, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, will probably purchase 3-4 million tons of rice. However, the Philippines may prefer Thai rice due to its competitive price as the country is importing rice under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh intends to buy 400,000 tons of rice from Vietnam out of the 700,000 tons it will import in August. 

Vietnamese firms send 60,000 tons of rice to Cuba and 30,000 tons to Iraq every month