Great opportunity from the market
Following the first order sold at the Carrefour supermarket chain in September 2022, Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company is now busy with orders of up to 400,000 tonnes of rice from EU partners. This is a positive signal that Vietnam's brand of rice has been received enthusiastically by EU consumers.
Nguyen Duy Thuan, General Director of Loc Troi Group, said that after the Vietnam - European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect, the company was selected for exports of the first rice order to the EU market. Up to now, this unit has exported about 30,000 tonnes of rice to the EU market.
Through the Leclerc retail supermarket system and Carrefour supermarket, the brand of “Com VietNam Rice” reached consumers not only in France but also Germany and the Netherlands.
Besides the EU, Indonesia is also a potential market for Vietnamese rice grains. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia, on March 27, 2023, this country decided to import an additional 2 million tonnes of rice for the national reserve this year, of which, 500,000 tonnes will be implemented as soon as possible.
This is considered a great opportunity for Vietnamese rice because according to statistics from Vietnam Customs, in the first two months of 2023, Indonesia was the third largest rice import market of Vietnam, following the Philippines and China. Vietnam's rice exports to Indonesia reached 143,786 tonnes in the past two months, equivalent to 67.31 million USD, with an average price of 468 USD per tonne, up 337 times in volume and 303 times in turnover.
Vietnamese rice has always maintained its position as one of the key export items in the agricultural group over recent years. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stressed that in recent years, Vietnam's rice exports have made great progress with the increase both in volume and value.
“Especially in recent months, the price of exported rice has always been high, with 5% broken raw rice at approximately 450 USD per tonne and 25% broken rice at about 430 USD per tonne, exceeding the price of rice from Thailand and India”, he added.
According to Tran Thanh Hai, the main reason was that over the past time, ministries and sectors have supported businesses to convert from low and medium-grade rice to high-quality, fragrant and organic rice for exports. This is also the main reason for high export rice prices, helping Vietnamese rice maintain its position.
After the EVFTA was signed, the ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade facilitated the issuance of Certificates to help rice export activities, especially fragrant rice of Vietnam, to this market. As a result, up to now, the rice exports to the EU have seen positive growth.
From the perspective of businesses, Nguyen Ngoc Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), stated that Vietnam's rice export prospects remain open n the long term, including India's rice export restrictions. On the other hand, an important exporter, Pakistan, has also experienced a historic flood that severely affected the supply.
Notably, difficult markets such as Europe, Republic of Korea and Australia and some newly opened markets in the Middle East will continue to create opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to increase exports when consumers are very fond of high-quality Vietnamese rice.
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Vietnamese rice has great opportunities to increase exports. (Photo: NDO) |
Towards the milestone of 7 million tonnes for exports
With its current good production capacity, basically, the supply of rice for exports t will be relatively stable. Besides, for market issues, if India continues to maintain a ban on rice exports, it will create favorable conditions for Vietnam's rice exports. In particular, the markets’ expansion of purchasing demand, especially traditional markets such as China, the Philippines, Indonesia, will also help Vietnam secure rice export volume at about 7 million tonnes this year.
Not to mention, the current price of Vietnamese rice is also relatively good. Pham Thai Binh, Director of Trung An High-Tech Farming Joint Stock Company, said in the ST fragrant rice segment exported to the EU, the company signed a contract to export ST fragrant rice with the price of 1,250 USD per tonne for 2023. This is considered a miracle of Vietnamese rice.
In Frebruary 2023, the Quang Tri Organic Agro Products Joint Stock Company (QTOrganic) exported 15 tonnes of Quang Tri organic rice to the EU market at 1,800 USD per tonne. Meanwhile, an order of 400,000 tonnes of rice to the EU market in 2023 was sold at a price of 12.9 EUR per 5kg, equivalent to the threshold of 2,000 USD per tonne. This is an opportunity for Vietnamese rice to continue to achieve new feats.
To facilitate rice export activities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been coordinating ith relevant ministries, agencies and localities to complete and develop a Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 107/2018/ND-CP dated August 15, 2018 of the Government on rice exports to complete the legal corridor for management mechanism and promote exports.
At the same time, the ministry has been propagating and disseminating the implementation of the Strategy on developing Vietnam's rice export market until 2030 after it was approved by the Prime Minister. The ministry will also continue to closely coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies, the VFA and rice export traders in removing difficulties and obstacles for rice exports, especially in the current trend of increased technical barriers, and food hygiene and safety criteria.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also sent a document to the People's Committees of the Mekong River Delta provinces to consult finalise the content and implementation method of the Project on the sustainable development of 1 million hectares specialising in high quality rice cultivation associated with green growth. It will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval and quick implementation. The project is expected to create a breakthrough for the exports of rice in the segment of 1,000 USD per tonne, towards further helping Vietnam's rice achieve higher prices.
