Rice sacks are loaded onto a vessel for shipment at Cua Lo Port in Nghe An province (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam exported 4.01 million tonnesof rice worth 1.73 billion USD in the first seven months of 2019, up 2.1percent in volume but down 14.3 percent in value year on year, according to theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The figures include 651,000 tonnes worth 285million USD in July.
In the year’s first half, the Philippines wasthe biggest buyer that purchased 33.7 percent of Vietnam’s rice exports.
Meanwhile, the markets with strong growth inrice imports from Vietnam include Ivory Coast (up 67 percent), China’s HongKong (60 percent) and Saudi Arabia (38 percent).
Export rice prices averaged 431 USD per tonne inthe six months, down 15 percent from the same period of 2018.
Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said this year,prices of agricultural products in the global market have decreased by 5 – 15percent. Notably, rice prices have fallen sharply in all segments.
He explained that the El Nino impact in late2015 and the first half of 2016 led to a decline in the world’s grain foodoutput, forcing countries to re-balance their reserves. As a result, the ricemarket in 2018 was very good in terms of both export volume and value, helpingVietnamese rice prices reach a record of over 500 USD per tonne on average.
However, in 2019, many countries, including bigones that used to purchase a large volume of Vietnamese rice, have stocked upenough of the food.
Cuong said in the short term, it is necessary toexplore new markets, especially those in Africa and ASEAN, to make up for thedrop in shipments to China – a major importer. Meanwhile, production costs mustbe reduced by applying scientific advances to ensure profit for farmers.
In the long term, the agricultural sector isplanning to switch 500,000ha of land currently under rice into that foraquaculture or fruit trees and other cash crops that suit the strengths of eachlocality to ease the rice output pressure.
The rice industry will need to promoteprocessing and value chains so as to make use of not only the grain but alsoits by-products like husk, bran and oil and diversify products such as organicand medicinal rice, the minister noted. -VNA
VNA
