High quality rice, best selling branded rice: Gone are the days of eating 'no name' rice

Records at supermarkets and traditional markets in Ho Chi Minh City show that high-quality, branded rice is chosen by many consumers when "delicious food" is put first, instead of "fullness" as before.

A high-quality food store in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City has a rice stall that only sells branded, high-quality rice - Photo: QUANG DINH

At a high-end food supermarket on Hai Ba Trung Street (District 1), the rice stall has many types of foreign rice from Korea, ST25 rice, dragon blood rice, kim me rice, huyen me rice, organic rice... with prices ranging from 35,000 to nearly 170,000 VND/kg but are consumed very well.

At Co.opmart Nguyen Dinh Chieu supermarket (District 3), ST25 rice alone has 10 types packaged in 5 kg/bag, such as ST25 King of Rice 200,000 VND/bag, ST25 King of Rice Shrimp Rice 202,000 VND/bag, ST25 NEPT special fragrant rice 228,000 VND/bag, ST25 Cat Tuong fragrant rice shrimp 189,000 VND/bag...

According to a representative of this supermarket, most buyers choose high-quality rice with beautiful packaging, especially ST25 rice from 6 different suppliers. "This is the amount of rice that is statistically sold and the amount increases every day," he said.

Records at some traditional markets also show that most rice stores sell fragrant rice and delicious rice, and almost do not sell regular rice.

At Nguyen Dinh Chieu market (Phu Nhuan district), many stalls and shops sell all kinds of rice with the lowest price being 17,700 VND/kg (Bui Tan Hong rice), the highest being 38,000 VND/kg of ST25 rice. There is also Thai fragrant rice (19,500 VND/kg), Jasmine Milk rice (21,700 VND/kg), Taiwanese fragrant rice (23,500 VND/kg), special Tam Xoan rice (22,300 VND/kg)...

Ms. Bui Thi Hoa, owner of a rice shop at Nguyen Dinh Chieu market, said that most customers come in to buy sticky, fragrant rice, almost no customers ask to buy rice that expands a lot, which is more beneficial to eat like before.

Meanwhile, a small shop located on Tran Khac Chan Street in Tan Dinh Market (District 1) only sells rice of the ST25 variety, with various brands such as ST25 Vua Cua, ST25 Vua Gao... "The price difference is 1,000 - 2,000 VND but it sells well. Depending on each family's taste, they choose different types of ST25," said the owner of this rice shop.

Choosing to buy rice at a dealer at Vuon Chuoi market (District 3), Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Xuan said that for many years now, her family has only chosen high-quality rice for daily meals. "I only choose to buy rice with a familiar brand name, the rice must be delicious, sticky and sweet, and I don't care much about the price of rice. I'm not rich, but I don't eat much rice, so why bother calculating the price of rice?" Ms. Xuan said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pham Thi Be (District 7) said that after hearing the news that ST25 rice won the world's best rice award, she was curious and ordered to try it. "Because the price was quite high, more than 36,000 VND/kg, I hesitated and only bought a 5kg bag, but when I cooked rice, it was fragrant and delicious, so I switched to eating this type of rice from then on," Ms. Be said.

Imported rice costs nearly 300,000 VND/kg but still has buyers

Not only choosing to buy high-quality, branded rice, many consumers in Ho Chi Minh City are also willing to pay for imported rice, even though the price is many times higher than Vietnamese rice. At a food retail store on Nguyen Van Troi Street (Phu Nhuan), Japanese Hokkaido Nanatsuboshi rice is sold for 303,000 VND/2kg bag, Italian Arborio rice is priced at nearly 280,000 VND/kg...

"This is a high-quality rice line, for the high-end customer segment. Although the price is much higher than domestic rice, it still sells very well," said an employee of this store. Similarly, at a high-end food store on Hai Ba Trung Street (District 1), besides Vietnam's ST25 rice, a type of rice from Korea called Ottogi rice is sold for VND169,000/kg but is still bought by many Vietnamese customers.

In a social network group talking about cooking and housework, some accounts also advertised foreign rice at sky-high prices such as Japanese rice (Sushi rice, Koshihikari rice, Furi Sakura rice) priced at 250,000 - 300,000 VND/5kg bag, Thai rice (Hom Mali rice, Pathumthani Na Siam rice) from 275,000 - 325,000 VND/5kg bag, Korean rice 170,000 - 265,000 VND/5kg bag.

According to Mr. Phan Van Co - Marketing Director of Vrice Company Limited, foreign rice is very expensive because when imported into Vietnam, it is subject to a tax rate of up to 45%. In reality, although the packaging and label say foreign rice, it is only a foreign rice variety grown in Vietnam. "Foreign rice is more expensive, but it does not mean it is more nutritious or better. With Vietnamese rice like ST25 rice or other branded rice, the nutritional composition is quite good," Mr. Co affirmed.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gao-chat-luong-cao-gao-thuong-hieu-ban-chay-qua-cai-thoi-an-gao-no-name-2024120723181433.htm