In the last days of November, the price of export rice of Vietnam (VN) continued to increase, keeping the highest level in the world, surpassing Thailand. For example, according to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the selling price of 5% broken rice for export is at 438 USD/ton, up 10 USD/ton; 25% broken rice at $418/ton, up $10/ton.

With the above price, the current price of Vietnamese rice is slightly higher than Thai rice of the same type by about 20 USD/ton.

Vietnamese rice is chosen by consumers to buy at a supermarket in France. Photo: QH

Many markets choose Vietnamese rice

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, analyzed: Vietnam is developing many new rice varieties, improving production processes, the amount of fresh rice is higher than Thai rice of the same strain. type should be chosen by many markets . His company itself has also signed many export orders for early next year to Europe, America, Korea or Singapore.

“The export prices of new contracts are quite high, even higher than the average actual export price of Vietnam. For example, 5% broken rice is exported to Korea at $467/ton while the price announced by VFA is only $438/ton. The price of broken rice exported to Singapore is also 20 USD higher than the average export price of 5% broken rice, "said Binh.

Not only white rice, fragrant rice, Japonica rice… also received many export orders at good prices. Mr. Phan Van Co, Marketing Director of Vrice Co., Ltd., informed that the price of fragrant rice for export to customers in the Middle East, Europe ... is up to 600 USD/ton, especially Japonica rice is about 700 USD/ton higher.

According to Mr. Co's explanation, Vietnamese rice is having a "time and geographical advantage" when the world food supply decreases due to factors such as political conflicts, inflation, COVID-19 epidemic, climate change... On the other hand, China was a major exporter of rice in previous years, but the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic caused the country to limit exports. In addition, this year India banned broken rice exports and restricted white rice to 5% broken.

"It is forecasted that the price of Vietnamese rice in the first months of 2023 will continue to remain high and may even continue to increase," said Mr. Co.

Quit competition like "I hurt myself"

Vietnamese rice has recently conquered many fastidious markets. However, experts warn that the value and brand of Vietnamese rice has not yet developed commensurately, not to mention there is still a competitive situation of "we harm ourselves".

Mr. Phan Van Co, Marketing Director of Vrice Co., Ltd., pointed out that the lack of unity and consensus among domestic companies, especially the situation of buying and selling competition, led to the general loss of reputation of Vietnamese rice.

“Some rice suppliers for my company, when they see the high market price, they delay delivery, even disconnecting to sell to new units. Besides, a number of companies exporting rice in a haphazard fashion, lowering the price, mixing rice to compete for sale, causing the export price to be pulled down. If Vietnamese rice exporters agree and self-consciously keep their credibility, Vietnam's exported rice will be sold at a better price," said Mr. Co.

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, also said that when the free trade agreements come into effect, Vietnamese rice exporters will receive many benefits and great opportunities. fair and accelerated competition compared to Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar... However, due to the poor commercial culture, the most obvious manifestation is which market to export to is to find ways to lower product costs to win customers. each other. This makes Vietnamese rice, although it can be sold for $2,000/ton, in reality it can only sell for around $1,000/ton.

“Our clean rice has been selling to consumers in Vietnam for many years now, mostly at the price of 25,000-30,000 VND/kg, equivalent to over 1,000 USD/ton. Thus, the selling price to Europe must be 1,500-2,000 USD/ton to be true to the true value. That is, if Vietnamese exporters unite, the price of Vietnamese rice sold to Europe may be higher, "- Mr. Binh emphasized.

The leader of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company also commented that our country's rice production still lacks leaders, very few chains of links, so the value obtained is not high. While there is a link chain, new rice production can deploy technology, minimize costs, achieve international standards, thereby increasing the value of rice exports.

"However, in order to develop large fields of hundreds of thousands of hectares, businesses need capital to support rice production chains and create brands in the international market," Binh emphasized.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, said that at present, the chain of links between farmers, cooperatives and businesses is still lacking and weak. Farmers use a very large amount of seed, making input costs many times higher, depending heavily on chemical fertilizers. The rate of rice consumption through traders and breaking consumption contracts is still high. In addition, despite exporting a lot, there are still not many Vietnamese rice brands in the international market.

Before this fact, according to Mr. Nam, the State should have policies to support enterprises to build Vietnamese rice brands for export and be labeled with national certification of Vietnamese rice. In addition, the authorities should support the establishment of offices to introduce and promote Vietnamese rice in key markets.•

Rice exports to the US and Europe increased sharply by more than 80%

Information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that Vietnam's rice exports in October 2022 reached more than 713,500 tons, worth over 341 million USD. This number increased 22% in volume and 24% in value compared to the previous month. Thus, last October has become the month with the highest export volume of rice in the history of the rice industry.

Generally, in the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam's rice exports reached more than 6 million tons, worth over $2.9 million. This number increased 17% in volume and 8% in value over the same period last year.

Regarding the market, in the first 10 months of the year, rice exports to the Philippines reached more than 2.7 million tons, accounting for 45%, worth over $1.2 billion. Exports to difficult markets also recorded high growth. In particular, rice exports to the US market increased by 85%, to the EU market increased by 82%.

It is forecasted that in the remaining two months of the year, at least each month, Vietnam will export 600,000 tons of rice. Thus, this year Vietnam will export 7.2-7.3 million tons of rice, worth $3.3-3.5 billion.