Rice price in the Mekong Delta has had its comeback

Rice prices in the Mekong Delta have slightly increased at the moment, but not as expected. Traders believe that rice exports will prosper when Covid-19 is more under control.

Mekong Delta farmers are harvesting the 2021 summer-autumn rice crop. Photo: Le Hoang Vu.

An increase of VND 300/kg

On August 18th, as informed by a trader in Can Tho city, who runs the boat carrying 6 tons of rice to sell to warehouses in the Sa Dec city (Dong Thap), the amount of raw rice coming to the rice purchasing factories is quite small, bought by only a few warehouses, while others are closed and stopped their purchase due to epidemic prevention.

Nonetheless, the raw rice price was stable and even slightly increased compared to the previous week. At present, the price of finished rice such as IR50404 in the 2021 summer-autumn crop is from VND 8,000 - 8,100/kg, OM5451 is from VND 8,700 - 8,800kg, Dai Thom 8 is from VND 9,000 - 9,100/kg, and OM18 is VND 10,500 -10,600/kg…

According to Mr. Nguyen Si Lam, Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, up until now, the whole province has harvested over 81% of summer-autumn rice out of the total 228,479 ha. Farmers are overjoyed as businesses are buying rice again, making the current purchase price increased about VND 100 - 300/kg compared to last week.

Furthermore, the MARD has recently coordinated with relevant ministries and branches under Central, localities and businesses to implement many solutions that help remove difficulties and obstacles, creating favorable conditions for farmers to harvest and consume rice and at the same time encourage units and enterprises to promote rice processing and export.

Rice for export is experiencing a backlog at the port

From August 16th to now, Thot Not port (Can Tho city) has temporarily suspended operations to guarantee the option of both isolation and production, making goods at the port stagnant, unable to be exported, and suffered many costly fees. Consequently, businesses' situation became desperate.

Mr. Vo Quoc Hung, Deputy Head of the Management Board of My Thoi Port (An Giang), said that enterprises had sent a plan for both isolation and export, but the appraisal failed because the port had many trucks carrying goods in and out, the risk of disease outbreak is very high.

Enterprises cannot take the initiative in transportation time because they can neither rent containers nor space on ships, which greatly affects their production plans. Moreover, other costs also increased due to the implementation of epidemic prevention measures. Some businesses still try to operate with about 30 - 50% workers and have intermittent production.

As stated by Mr. Nguyen Si Lam, Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, due to the complicated situation of Covid-19, it is prognosticated that rice production and consumption in the province will continue to face many hardships in the near future.

Last week, four provinces and cities including An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Can Tho city have sat down to discuss solutions and agreed to soon have two ports My Thoi (An Giang) and Thot Not (Can Tho city) returned to normal operation to reduce pressure on Cat Lai port (HCMC).

In the meantime, the four provinces had made a joint document in order to propose to the Prime Minister, the MARD, and the MoIT to remove difficulties in consuming agricultural products, as well as having policies on credit packages to support businesses in purchasing and temporarily afford rice storage.

(Mr. Nguyen Si Lam, Director of An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development)