Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company will export 1,600 tonnes of high-value fragrant rice to Singapore and Malaysia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced on January 13.

Accordingly, 450 tonnes of Jasmine 85 rice will be shipped to the Singaporean market at US$680 per tonne, while 1,150 tonnes of “Huong Lai” fragrant rice will be delivered to customers in Malaysia at US$750 per tonne.

These are very high prices, General Director of Trung An JSC Pham Thai Binh said, adding that the company is also preparing to export over 2,000 tonnes of rice to Germany. 

Binh said despite difficulties from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam's rice industry has made breakthroughs in 2020, especially in value. Rice export value increased by over 9% in the year although the volume did not rise as compared to 2019.

In the early days of 2021, a number of member companies of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), including Trung An JSC, have signed many export contracts, especially with European partners and those from member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that Vietnam signed in November last year.

According to MARD, Malaysia and Singapore are two among the 10 largest importers of Vietnamese rice. This is also a significant event after Vietnam has just signed the RCEP, together with other nine ASEAN member states and five countries that the group has signed free trade agreements with.

MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said that in 2020, rice was the bright spot among agricultural exports. The ministry always supports businesses and localities in building production linkage chains to create quality and safe products, he said.

Nguyen Trung Kien, Vice President and General Secretary of VFA, said that Vietnam exported 6.15 million tonnes of rice last year, earning an estimated US$3 billion, up 9.3% year-on-year in value although the volume decreased by about 3.5%.