VietNamNet Bridge – The rice export market has bounced back thanks to higher demand from importers, especially from China, which has made large orders.

 

Huynh The Nang, chair of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), in an interview to the local press, said he can see “positive signs” in the rice export market.

Vietnam needs to sell about 5 million tons of winter-spring rice, including 700 tons of last year’s inventories. To date, Vietnamese businesses have signed contracts on exporting one million tons.

As demand is high, VFA predicts that Vietnam will be able to sell 3 million tons of rice by the end of the second quarter.

Nang noted that the Chinese market has heated up again as the government has granted rice import quotas to Chinese businesses. 

It is estimated that Vietnam can sell 3.5-4 million tons of rice to China, which includes 1 million tons across the border gates.

Previously, Vietnamese rice exporters and farmers had been concerned about the sharp fall in rice exports in the first month of the year.

A report from the Industry and Trade Information Center shows that Vietnam had exported 325,621 tons of rice, worth $153.23 million, by the end of January, which represented a 11.72 percent decrease in quantity and 12.86 percent in export turnover compared with January 2014.

The 5 percent broken rice export price in January dropped to $376 per ton from $401 per ton in January 2014, while the price of 25 percent broken rice exports to $380 per ton.

Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice closing price in January was at $360 per ton, down by 6 percent in comparison with December 2014 and 11 percent one year ago.

The rice price in the domestic market has moved up slightly on the government-initiated campaign to buy rice to store. 

Nang said the rice price has increased by VND300 per kilo compared with the days before Tet (in mid-February), after 10 days of running the campaign.

Commenting on the price rise, an analyst said the rice collection campaign is only one of the reasons that prices have gone up. 

The analyst said that rice export companies are collecting rice to implement a contract on exporting 240,000 tons to Malaysia, while Vietnam has won the bid to provide 300,000 tons of rice to the Philippines. And China has returned with large orders.

Mekong River Delta farmers are satisfied with the price. Le Van Tol, a farmer in Soc Trang province, said he had made a profit of VND14 million per hectare, which was enough to “make ends met”.

In 2014, Vietnam exported 6.32 million tons of rice, earning 2.8 million USD, to become the third largest rice exporter in the world, after Thailand and India, according to VFA.

Thanh Mai