According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, many export markets, including China, the Philippines and Malaysia, have boosted the purchase of Vietnamese rice, helping the country’s rice exports increase gradually in months and remain at a high level from June until now.
Reports from the ministry showed that Vietnam shipped 466,000 tonnes of rice in the first nine months, worth US$210 million, up 20.8 per cent and 18.6 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
China remained Vietnam’s largest rice importer, accounting for nearly 39 per cent of the total share market.

Vietnam exported 466,000 tonnes of rice worth US$210 million in the first nine months.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said though China has applied new policies, including a rice import tax hike, since August, the market remains potential for Vietnamese rice exports.
China’s markets have recently also resumed the import of sticky rice, rekindling the hope that dozens thousands tonnes of sticky rice lying in the stockpile will soon be sold out.
Thanks to the rising exports, the rice price in the domestic market has also increased. By the end of August, a tonne of 5 per cent and 25 per cent-broken rice reached between $405 and $415, and $380 and $390, up $10 to $20 against June 1.
The VFA reported that domestic rice firms in the first nine months registered exports of 5.1 million tonnes, up 18.8 per cent year-on-year. Of the total, 1.2 million tonnes have not been delivered yet.
Huynh Trung Tru, deputy director of the Can Tho City’s Department of Industry and Trade, said that demand for rice imports has increased in many markets such as Bangladesh, the Philippines and Iran.
For the Bangladesh market alone, the country needs to import some 500,000 tons.
"Particularly, in October 2017, they demand between 250,000 tons and 300,000 tons,” Tru said, adding that local firms have probably registered with the VFA to participate in bidding for the shipment of rice.
Last year, Vietnam’s rice exports crashed to an eight-year low due to a lack of demand from key markets and Thailand’s sales of its massive stockpiles. The country reported a total rice export of approximately 4.9 million tonnes worth $2.1 billion in 2016, a sharp decrease of 25.5 per cent in terms of volume and 20.5 per cent in term of value, compared to 2015.
The association forecast that in 2017, the country’s rice exports will reach some 5.7 million tonnes, including 1.8 million tonnes in the last quarter, and 800,000 tonnes higher than 2016.
Not only has the rice price increased but the rice export structure continues to have a positive shift. Low and middle value-added rice export volumes reduced sharply. Exports of high value-added and high-quality rice, such as sticky rice and japonica rice, increase significantly. This is in line with the direction of the export market development.
The prime minister has approved the rice export market development strategy in the period of 2017 to 2020, with orientation towards 2030. The strategy targets are to gradually reduce the volume of export rice but to maintain and increase the value of rice exports. Besides shifting the structure of rice export markets, the strategy also plans to increase the percentage of the Vietnamese rice brand exported directly.