Vietnamese rice affirms its position

Vietnamese rice entered the highest-end segment, with an export price of over $1,000/ton after Vietnam ST25 rice won the World's Best Rice award in 2019. In recent years, Vietnamese rice has gradually increased its export volume to high-end markets such as Europe, America, Japan, and Australia and has built a reputation. Recently, the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia (concurrently the Vanuatu market) informed us that the first ten containers of ST25 rice have been exported to Vanuatu, and the contract output in the future can be up to thousands of tons of rice/per year. Three years since the slogan "Vietnam, the land of the best rice in the world" was created by the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia to affirm the quality of Vietnamese rice, along with the strategy of "creating demand" which has helped rice Vietnam has a foothold in Australia. It is a sustainable market approach because if put right on the shelves of large supermarkets when the market does not recognize it, it will only last for a short time.
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Good season, a good price

As of the first two months of 2023, many markets achieved very high growth. For example, China (the second import market) imported 152,640 tons, equivalent to $90 million, up 86% in volume and 120% in value. Third is Indonesia with 144,000 tons, equivalent to 67 million USD.
Mr. Phan Thanh Bac, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Son Hoa Cooperative (Thao Son district, An Giang province), said that farmers finalized the winter-spring rice harvest book with a profit of 30-40 million VND/ha. 
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According to Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the positive growth of rice exports is a result of insufficient supply for demand in the world, so rice prices have raised. "The rice demand becomes high because China opened its economy. In particular, Indonesia had a need to import up to 2 million tons of rice, and Vietnam's purchasing ability accounted for 50% of the total output, so the output was very favorable. Meanwhile, at the end of 2022, rice exports have grown well, businesses have drawn inventory to sell, and there are no goods for this year, so the supply is not much," said Mr. Do Ha Nam.
Professors said that the increase in rice prices is not only due to increased demand but also Vietnam improved rice quality.
According to Mr. Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), rice production capacity is still stable, is enough for domestic consumption, and about 7 million tons are left for export. "But, due to climate change,  the summer-autumn and autumn-winter crops must be careful preparation, not neglect to get the best results" - Mr. Le Thanh Tung's note.

Wait for a good price to sell

Mr. Le Thanh Tung recommended that businesses should not be rushed while signing contracts, especially when the time is not the same as the harvest. This leads to the situation of being forced to collect goods for delivery, avoiding contract penalties, and creating virtual price fevers in the domestic market.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of Phuoc Thanh IV Production - Trading Co., Ltd (Vinh Long province), said: "Although getting many rice import orders, enterprises wait for a good price to sell. Enterprises do not focus on bulk orders, often at low prices, but mainly exploit single orders, good prices, and products associated with the enterprise's brand. Mr. Thanh forecasts that this year, Vietnam rice still has twice the price increases in April - May due to increased import demand and October - November because Thai rice is out of season while many countries need additional importing. Maybe this year, Vietnam's rice industry will be the best in the past five years in unit price and value. "However, companies with export contracts will get money disbursed easily from the bank. Therefore, only enterprises with available capital or high bank loan limit can make rice export business effective." - Mr. Thanh added.
According to Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vietnam has the advantage of growing three rice crops per year, farmers can increase output when the market is favorable. Although the rice industry's profit has increased, it is still far from the fruit industry, so the trend of converting inefficient rice land to other crops continues. So, rice export production decreased. 
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Mr. Do Ha Nam believes that for rice farmers to benefit, it is necessary to have policies to support farmers who are able to keep rice and wait for high prices to sell. "Rice prices will stay high if farmers do not need to sell rice immediately to cover input costs and living expenses, farmers will benefit. Then, for businesses, the storage is only partial, the main activity is exporting rice to farmers rather than export business," said Mr. Nam.