Harvesting rice in Vi Thanh commune, Vi Thanh district of the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang (Photo: VNA)Singapore (VNA)– There remains considerable potential for Vietnam to export rice to Singapore,according to a Vietnamese delegation which visited Singapore in early August toseek ways to boost the shipment of agricultural products to this country.
The delegation included representatives from theMinistry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, the Vietnam Food Association, along with eight leading rice exportingcompanies.
They had working sessions with relevant agenciesof Singapore such as the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), theInternational Enterprise Singapore (IES) and the Agri-Food and VeterinaryAuthority (AVA) to learn about the management policy, the export-importsituation and the transit mechanism for rice in Singapore.
The Vietnamese delegation also metrepresentatives of local biggest retail chains like NTUC Fair Price, Giant andSheng Siong to set up relations and learn about ways to directly exportVietnamese goods to these supermarkets, instead of via foreign traders.
Le Xuan Minh, a representative of the VietnamNorthern Food Corporation, said they found that Singapore has great potentialand demand for Vietnam’s high-quality rice products, especially fragrant rice.
Meanwhile, the Singaporean side also highlyevaluated the quality of Vietnamese agricultural products, noting that a largenumber of Vietnamese goods such as rice, aquatic products, fruits andvegetables are being sold at their supermarkets.
[Infographics: Vietnam revises up rice export target in 2017]
Vietnam is currently the third biggest riceexporter to Singapore, after India and Thailand, with 80,000-90,000 tonnes ofrice worth nearly 80 million SGD each year, making up 20 percent of the localrice market.
Lim Hock Leng, Managing Director of Sheng SiongGroup Ltd, said his firm has imported rice from Vietnam since 2010. Itssupermarkets are also selling other Vietnamese products such as groceries,fruits and vegetables.
The Singaporean market relatively prefersVietnamese rice, he stressed, adding that the sales of Vietnamese rice at theSheng Siong markets have been on the rise. Vietnamese rice has competitiveprices and high quality, he added.
According to Singaporean officials and businessleaders, to export more rice to the country, Vietnam needs to build its ownrice brands while ensuring quality and competitive prices.
They also affirmed their willingness tocooperate with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam’strade office in Singapore to organise Vietnamese goods fairs or weeks at theirsupermarket chains.-VNA
VNA
