VietNamNet Bridge – The export prices have been unstable. The main export items such as rice, coffee and rubber have seen the export volumes drop sharply. As for seafood exports, shrimp are the only products seeing growth, while tuna and catfish exports have gone down.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam exported 4.7 million tons of rice in the first 8 months of the year, worth $2.05 billion, a 15.7 percent decrease in quantity and 18.4 percent in value in comparison with the same period of the last year.

Nguyen Dinh Bich, a rice expert, affirming the downward tendency, said the decreases would depend on the Thai move to cut stocks.

“Thailand has launched some rice sale campaigns, but it has only sold a small amount, and did not declare the bidding prices,” Bich said. “If Thailand continue slashing its prices to clear the stocks ($435 per ton now), India and Pakistan would also lower their selling prices. If so, this would put a hard pressure on Vietnam’s rice.”

A rice trader in the south said Vietnamese enterprises now offer rice at low price level of $380 per ton for 5 percent broken rice and $350 for 25 percent of broken rice. However, even the low price levels cannot attract buyers.

Meanwhile, according the Vietnam Food Association VFA, in July, the winter-spring rice was priced at $400, while the summer-autumn rice at $375.

The world’s rice price has been decreasing continuously. Therefore, Vietnam’s rice in Africa, the market that Vietnam focuses on, would meet the stiff competition with the products from India and Pakistan.

After the Thai move of cutting stock, VFA has requested the government to give more preferences to help enterprises buy 300,000 tons of rice more for storage from September 15 to October 15. The association said the enterprises which store rice now incur the loss of $30 per ton.

The coffee exports in the first 8 months of the year decreased significantly partially because of the problems faced by domestic enterprises. Though the world’s coffee price has increased slightly, Vietnam’s export turnover still decreased by 22.5 percent due to the 23 percent decrease in quantity.

Germany and the US, the two biggest markets for Vietnam, saw the imports down by 20 and 30 percent, respectively.

The rubber export, which has been depending on the Chinese market, has had a bad crop with the sharp fall in the export price of 18 percent in the first 7 months of the year.

Even though the export volume increased by 4.6 percent in the first 8 months of the year (638,000 tons), the export turnover was modest at $1.5 billion, down by 14 percent.

Seafood exports prove to be more optimistic with the positive growth rate, despite the anti-dumping duties in the US and the technical barriers in Japan.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam exported $4.1 billion worth of products in the first eight months, up by 2.5 percent over the same period of the last year.

The black tiger shrimp epidemics have led to the short supply. Therefore, the seafood industry would rely on the white leg shrimp exports.

Tien Phong