Vietnams five-month rice exports drop

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam earned 1.21 billion USD from exporting an estimated 2.83 million tonnes of rice during January-May, declining 20.7 percent in value and 4 percent in volume as compared to the same time last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

Vietnam earned 1.21 billion USD from exporting an estimated 2.83 million tonnes of rice during January-May. (Photo: VNA)

Accounting for 35.9 percent of the market share, the Philippines was the largest importer of Vietnamese rice in the first four months of the year. Vietnam shipped 814,500 tonnes of rice to the country for 320.5 million USD, up 4.4 times in volume and 3.9 times in value from the same time in 2018.

Strong growth was also seen in rice shipments to Angola (up 5.2 times), China’s Hong Kong (up 91.9 percent), the Ivory Coast (up 73.3 percent), and Russia (up 29.3 percent).

White rice accounted for the largest proportion of total exports with 50.5 percent, followed by Jasmine rice and fragrant rice (34.1 percent), sticky rice (8.1 percent) and japonica rice and Japanese rice (7.1 percent). 

According to the Ministry’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, falling prices in global market affected Vietnamese rice value.

Experts forecast a grim prospect for the rice market due to falling demand in Asia. Meanwhile, it is hard for Mekong Delta rice to increase its price as the region is in the middle of harvest time of the summer-autumn crop.