Vietnam eyes opportunities for rice exports to Senegal

Vietnam’s rice exports to Senegal enjoyed a sharp increase compared to 2018, with an export volume of 96,665 tonnes, earning a total turnover of more than US$32,620.

The figure represented a 13.1-fold increase in terms of volume and 10.2–fold rise in terms of value

Vietnam's trade office in Algeria noted that despite rice exports to Senegal skyrocketing during 2019 compared to 2018, the price of rice suffered a drop.

This fall in price in the Senegalese market can largely be attributed to Vietnamese rice facing competition with rice from India, Pakistan, Thailand, China, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

Due to the constant threat of drought, the food production of the West African nation only meets approximately 20 per cent of domestic demand with Senegal being forced to import between 700,000 and 800,000 tonnes of rice each year, of which more than 90 per cent is broken rice.

Despite the Senegalese government attempting to implement a wet rice development program with the aim of becoming self-sufficient by 2017, this goal has so far failed to be achieved due to high costs in terms of rice production while the import of broken rice remains twice as cheap in comparison to local rice.

The demand for rice imports from Senegal and Africa as a whole are predicted to remain high due to the grasshopper pandemic which has broken out in East Africa, in addition to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to the US Department of Agriculture, Africa's total rice demand in 2020 is estimated to stand at 15.7 million tonnes, with Senegal expected to import 1.3 million tonnes.

In line with these expected imports, Vietnam's trade office in Algeria believes that these conditions will serve to create opportunities for domestic rice to boost exports whilst competing with countries that also export rice to the West African country.