Vietnam witnessed modest earnings from rice exports to the EU market as a result of high import duties and restrictions caused by limited rice quotas provided by the EU, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the MoIT’s Import and Export Department, said the country’s rice export volume to the EU last year remained at a low level, reaching approximately 20,000 tonnes worth US$10.7 million. 

Meanwhile, the EU’s average rice consumption hovered at roughly 2.5 million tonnes per year in the 2016 to 2020 period.

This situation can be attributed to the fact that the nation has only been granted limited rice quotas by the EU, therefore making it difficult to compete with other countries such as Thailand, the United States, and Australia, all of which have received higher tariff quotas.

Furthermore, underdeveloped regional countries including Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar are exempt from import duties and enjoy quota-free access for all of their export goods to the EU market. 

In line with the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which came into force on August 1, the EU has pledged to provide an annual rice quota of 80,000 tonnes to the nation, including tariffs on rice products being slashed to 0% over the next three to five years.

Despite these pledges, the EU is expected to allocate a significant rice quota to European enterprises, therefore Vietnamese rice exporters have been advised to contact these firms in order to do business with them.

With regard to jasmine rice, the EVFTA requires additional documents from Vietnamese authorities who must finalise all legal documents as a means of meeting the requirements set by the EU market in the near future.