Rice exports continue to represent a bright spot among Vietnam’s agricultural exports after maintaining remarkable growth in value since the start of the year, with the export price increasing significantly as a result of improvements made to quality. 

According to figures released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the nation exported 5.35 million tonnes of rice worth approximately US$2.64 billion during the opening ten months of the year, representing a decline of 2.8% in volume and an increase of 9.5% in value from the same period last year. Indeed, the average export price of rice witnessed a surge of 12.7% on-year to US$493.3 per tonne.

The initial 11 months of the year witnessed the country ship over 5.7 million tonnes of rice abroad with a value of roughly US$2.84 billion, a year-on year increase of over 12% with the average price of rice exports reaching US$494 per tonnes.

Most notably, Vietnamese rice has seen a number of positive increases in terms of price with 5% broken white rice being traded from US$470 per tonne in mid-October to between US$485 and US$490 per tonne during the last week of October. 

Despite experiencing a decline in relation to export volume, the export value of the products has significantly increased due to various types of high-quality rice being capable of meeting the stringent requirements placed on them by demanding markets, coupled with the global increase in demand for rice amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) threat.

According to the latest information released by the Vietnam Food Association, the Asian rice market has started to heat up again as several potential customers, including China, Bangladesh, and the Philippines are rushing to purchase these items. For example, China is actively purchasing rice from major suppliers such as Pakistan and Thailand, in addition to the nation.

This comes after Bangladesh has recently announced that it will open an international bid from November 26 to December 10 in order to buy 50,000 tonnes of rice, along with plans to purchase an additional 250,000 tonnes, while Malaysia and Indonesia are also keen on promoting the purchase of rice from India and  Thailand, as well as the country.

Moving forward, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development anticipates that rice export volume will reach over 6 million tonnes this year.

According to reports compiled by large corporations and enterprises such as Loc Troi, PAN, and Trung An, the export orders of local high-quality rice to the EU market are projected to increase in the short term due to the enforcement of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).