Vietnam is estimated to have exported over 262,000 tonnes of rice worth US$142.42 million in February 2021, down 50.98% in terms of volume and down 40.18% in term of export revenue compared to February 2020.
In the January-February period of 2021, 608,768 tonnes of rice were exported, equivalent to US$336.18 million, down 34.45% in terms of volume and 21.9% in terms of revenue compared to the same period in 2020.
However, the average export price of rice in January 2021 reached US$551.7 per tonne, up 3.4% compared to December 2020 and 15.4% compared to January 2020.
The Philippines remained the leading importer of Vietnamese rice in the first month of 2021, accounting for 48% of Vietnam’s total export volume and revenue.Despite a decline in rice exports to the Philippines in January, the export price rose slightly by 2%.
According to rice traders, the fall in export volume and revenue in the first two months of this year is normal andnot a worrisome problem. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), world rice reserves as of early 2021 are quite large at about 178.3 million tonnes, much higher than the figure of 150.6 million tonnes in early 2018.
