As its rice export is facing a fierce competition among other exporters amid low demand and global overproduction, Vietnam's ministries and growers are taking intensive measures to boost the country's rice exports in 2014, reported Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) News on Wednesday.
According to a recent report by the Ministry Industry and Trade (MoIT), as of March 10, Vietnam exported some 753,000 tons of rice. The country's rice export volume in March is expected to hit 500, 000 to 550,000 tons. Under the progress, Vietnam will export 6.7 to seven million tons of rice in 2014, meeting the set target, said the ministry.
However, Vietnam's rice export is facing stiff competition from other rice exporters such as Thailand, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Cambodia among others, said Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Import-Export Department under MoIT.
As a result, the country's 5-percent broken rice price went down recently, from 405 U.S. dollars per ton at the beginning of February to the current 375 dollars.
Concerted efforts to boost rice exports in 2014 will be included those by MoIT and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
So far, Vietnam has signed seven cooperation agreements on rice trading with Indonesia, Guinea, Haiti, Bangladesh, East Timor, Comoros and the Philippines. MoIT is promoting negotiations for agreement with Malaysia and China, said a MoIT report.
"At least Vietnam would be able to export 4 to 4.5 million tons of rice in 2014 under the government's agreements. Besides, Vietnam would also export about 400,000 tons of rice to Cuba," CPV News quoted MoIT Minister Vu Huy Hoang as saying.
The minister said that Thai plan to sell rice in large quantities to clear its big stocks would be a big challenge to Vietnam's rice export.
However, Thai rice, which has been stored for a long time, cannot keep its original quality. This would make Thai rice less competitive than Vietnamese rice, said Hoang, adding that Vietnam will strive to maintain its traditional rice markets, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cuba, as well as seeking and expanding new markets such as China, South Korea, Mexico and African countries among others.
China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice in 2013. In the first 11 months of 2013, China imported over 2 million tons of rice worth 849.36 million dollars, up 6.22 percent in volume and 2.74 percent in value, accounting for 30.96 percent of Vietnam 's total rice export revenue, said the MoIT.
Implementing a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in agro-products trading between Vietnam and China has yielded initial results as Vietnam provides list of Vietnam's exporting companies to China and vice versa, China provides its list of importing companies.
MoIT, along with Vietnam Food Association (VFA) and local rice exporting companies, has organized and joined many fairs, exhibitions to introduce Vietnamese rice to the Chinese market.
In a related movement, in a recent Vietnamese government meeting session on production and consumption of Winter-Spring rice crops in southern Mekong river delta, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said concerted measures should be implemented to overcome difficulties for rice exports.
MoIT, VFA and rice exporting companies should be assertive in expanding markets, and facilitating rice exports to China, said Phat.
According MARD report, the total rice growing area in Vietnam's major rice production hub of Mekong river delta in Winter-Spring crops 2013-2014 reached 1.605 million hectares, up 3,200 hectares year-on-year. The average productivity is estimated at 6.83 tons per hectare, up 0.01 ton per hectare year-on-year.
Since the beginning of March, Vietnam's domestic rice price went down sharply, hovering from 208 to 237 dollars per ton.
The Vietnamese government, in a bid to prevent rice price from further declining, decided to buy 1 million tons of rice for temporary storage. The duration of the temporary storage will be four months, from March 20 to July 20, 2014, said state-run radio VOV on Wednesday.
In 2013, Vietnam earned 2.986 billion dollars from exporting 6. 722 million tons of rice, or a decrease of 18.7 percent in value and 16.1 percent in volume year-on-year, said the General Statistics Office.
Rice plays the most important role among agricultural commodities in Vietnam in terms of food security, rural wages and employment, as well as export revenues. Vietnam has become one of the top rice exporters worldwide in recent years.
