Rice exports hit almost US$2.5 billion

Vietnam’s rice exports achieved a great triumph in the 11 months leading up to December as they hit 5.52 million tons worth US$2.49 billion, up 24.1% in volume and 24.9% in value against the same period last year.

These figures are much higher than last year’s total (nearly 4.9 million tons and US$2.2 billion).

In the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam shipped rice to 132 world markets. China was the largest importer with 40% of the export volume or 2.03 million tons, up 35% over the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile, exports to other markets also witnessed a sharp rise such as the Philippines (up 41.3%), Malaysia (up 97.3%) and Ivory Coast (39.7%).

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2017 is a successful year for the rice sector despite the forecast that many countries would implement a self-supply policy which causes difficulties to rice exporters.

However, Vietnam’s rice exports obtained a rapid growth after rice production in some countries were negatively impacted by clime change. Major importers like China, the Philippines, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea were in great demand and particularly, new import markets such as Bangladesh and Iraq also helped push up rice exports.

It is forecast that rice exports in the last month of the year will reach around 400,000-500,000 tons, bringing the total export volume to 5.9-6 million tons this year, 1.1-1.2 million tons higher than last year.