On March 7 in Can Tho city, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a conference on rice production and market; drought and salinity prevention in the Mekong Delta.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha speaks at the Rice Market Conference; drought and salinity prevention in the Mekong Delta - Photo: LE DAN
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the first months of 2025, the world's rice supply increased but low import demand affected Vietnam's rice exports.
The average export rice price in the first two months of 2025 is estimated at 553.6 USD/ton, down 18.3% over the same period.
Low export prices but not too worried
In early March 2025, rice export prices continued to fall sharply, with 5% broken rice at $393/ton and 25% broken rice at $367/ton. Although domestic rice purchase prices or Vietnam's rice export prices have decreased compared to the same period, according to businesses, this is normal and there is no need to worry too much.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam - Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association - said that with domestic rice production and annual rice exports, there is no worry about not being able to consume.
Rice exports in the first two months of 2025 are estimated at 1.1 million tons, worth 613 million USD, down compared to the same period but not significantly.
According to Mr. Nam, 80% of Vietnam's rice export output in the first two months of the year was high-quality rice and this segment has little competition.
Similarly, Mr. Tran Tan Duc - General Director of Southern Food Company - also said that the current supply-demand situation with prices is completely normal.
Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy said that the difficulties of the rice industry will only last 2-3 months. If the problem of buying and storing to wait for the time when the market adjusts and stabilizes can be solved, there will be no difficulties.
Currently, high-quality rice accounts for 80-85% of the export market share. The current export price of this type of rice is at 530 - 540 USD/ton, only down compared to last year but still higher than the price level of 2023.
Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy speaks - Photo: L. DAN
“So we are not too worried about export prices and domestic prices. The lowest domestic price here is IR 504 rice, the production cost is about 3,800 - 4,300 VND/kg, and the current purchase price at the field is 5,400 VND/kg or more. So farmers still have profits, somewhere around 30% or more,” said Mr. Duy.
Early implementation of the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice
Winter-spring rice harvest in Can Tho city - Photo: VC
Mr. Pham Thai Binh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company (Can Tho City ) - said that the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030 is ripe.
Therefore, any project included in the project submitted to the provincial level should be requested to be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment as a legal basis for businesses and cooperatives to cooperate with farmers.
"When linking up, businesses support farmers a lot. Farmers only produce, and the ripe rice is consumed by businesses," said Mr. Binh.
From a local perspective, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc He - Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee - supports the early implementation of the 1 million ha high-quality rice project. Farmers are looking forward to it because the project requires a link between businesses, cooperatives and farmers.
“There has been a connection in the past, but the connection like the 1 million hectare high-quality rice project is still very modest. It is just a purchase and sale contract, without harmonious benefits and shared risks, so farmers really hope that the project will be implemented to create conditions for connection between production and consumption,” Mr. He acknowledged.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Government Office to review the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality rice for the last time.
"The 1 million hectare high-quality rice project will focus on productivity and quality, and its own brand is a low-carbon and circular economy brand, thus reducing costs by 30% and controlling plant protection and food safety issues of rice products. Surely we will do what we want," the deputy prime minister affirmed.
The Deputy Prime Minister proposed amending Decree 107, requiring enterprises to meet strict criteria to be granted rice export licenses, including production linkage capacity, warehouse system and financial capacity. This is considered a solution to improve the quality and professionalism of rice export activities.
At the same time, it is recommended to exempt income tax for the agricultural sector for the next two years, to create favorable conditions for businesses to invest and develop.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-do-duc-duy-gia-gao-hien-khong-qua-lo-lang-20250307162559394.htm
Comment (0)