In 2023, Africa has a need to import 17.7 million tons of rice

According to the Department of Markets for Asia and Africa - Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2023, according to USDA's forecast, Africa 's rice production in the 2022/2023 crop year is forecast to reach 24.3 million tons, up 1.7% compared to the previous year. for the crop year 2021/2022; in which North Africa is estimated at 3.6 million tons, up 23.7% and sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at 20.7 million tons, down 1.2%.

Africa is one of the potential markets for Vietnamese rice

The USA also estimates that the total rice consumption and reserves in Africa in 2023 will reach over 42.2 million tons, an increase of more than 570 thousand tons compared to 2022, of which: North Africa will reach about 4.4 million tons. , an increase of 50 thousand tons; Sub-Saharan Africa reached about 37.5 million tons, an increase of 300 thousand tons.

In the past years, although the area of rice cultivation in Africa has been expanded, the post-harvest rice production in the countries of the continent is still low compared to the world and is limited by a number of factors such as: : low quality rice varieties, little improvement, erratic weather conditions, underdeveloped agricultural infrastructure, limited resources, pests, production, harvesting and processing processes and poor storage... In general, Africa's rice production is not expected to keep pace with the growth in rice consumption and population growth in the region.

Imported rice is vital to Africa's food security, despite efforts by many countries towards self-sufficiency. To meet the demand for rice estimated at over 42.2 million tons in 2023, Africa is expected to import about 17.7 million tons, down 4.5%. The reason for the decrease in imports is that from the second half of 2022, many countries in the continent have actively imported rice to reserve, in case food prices continue to increase due to the consequences of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In the coming time, Africa's main rice supply will still focus mainly on India, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam. The main types of rice imported by African countries include fragrant rice, white rice and broken rice.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade , Vietnam exports rice to 54 African countries with a volume of over 600,000 tons, of which the largest rice import markets include Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mozambique, Cameroon, Gabon , Tanzania, Egypt…

Rice consumption tastes of the African market: Long grain rice, when cooked without the grain, parboiled rice, fragrant rice, while in Ghana, Senegal, people prefer hard rice.

For the African market, Vietnam's market development orientation is to strengthen the market share of white rice, long grain, loose grain, hard rice, parboiled rice, fragrant rice, etc. At the same time, to meet the needs of the market. This is by improving competitiveness in terms of price, quality and payment and trading conditions in African countries.

 Kim Cuong 

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