Q1 rice export volumes and value down

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has released a report on rice exports in the first quarter of 2019, with volumes estimated at 1.43 million tons worth $593 million, down 3.5 per cent in volume and 20.2 per cent in value year-on-year.

1.43 mn tons worth $593 mn exported in first quarter, down 3.5% and 20.2% year-on-year.

The Philippines was the leading importer of Vietnamese rice in the period, with 40.2 per cent of the total. Other markets exhibiting strong increases in the import of Vietnamese rice were Angola (up over 9.5-fold year-on-year), Côte d’Ivoire (up 6.1-fold), and Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia, whose imports doubled.

MARD said the rice price was at $404 per ton in the first two months of 2019, down 17.8 per cent year-on-year.

The export value of white rice accounted for 60 per cent of total turnover in the first two months of the year, Jasmine rice and fragrant rice 29 per cent, sticky rice 8 per cent, and Japonica rice and Japanese rice 3 per cent.

The largest export markets for Vietnam’s white rice were the Philippines (61 per cent) and Cuba (20 per cent). For Jasmine and fragrant rice, the largest export markets were Côte d’Ivoire (33 per cent), Ghana (14 per cent), and the Philippines (8 per cent).

Hong Kong was Vietnam’s largest sticky rice export market, accounting for 42 per cent of the total, followed by the Philippines (19 per cent) and China (18 per cent). In Japonica rice and Japanese rice, the largest export markets were Papua New Guinea (14 per cent) and the Solomon Islands (13 per cent).

Although the export price in general declined, the price of rice in the Mekong Delta region increased slightly thanks to the temporary storage purchasing policies of rice export enterprises. In March 2019, rice prices in An Giang, Vinh Long, Kien Giang, and Bac Lieu provinces increased after the government bought 200,000 tons of rice and 80,000 tons of winter-spring paddy crop for storage purposes.

According to MARD, although Vietnam’s rice exports faced difficulties in the first quarter of 2019, it’s expected that there will be a variety of new contracts signed in the second quarter due to Vietnamese rice being at competitive prices compared to other exporting countries. Some businesses have reported that they have already accessed some markets and implemented new rice export contracts.

Good news for local rice exporters is that Egypt opened a bid for medium and short-grain white rice to all interested domestic and foreign contractors, with a deadline for submissions of April 30.