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| Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of VFA, said that the high price of Vietnamese rice is not necessarily an advantage. (Source: VFA) |
Vietnamese rice "increases in price" but it is not an advantage
According to information at the workshop “Solutions to improve the efficiency of Vietnam’s rice value chain” held in Can Tho City on November 3, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said that as of November 1, compared to the group of major rice exporting countries in the world, Vietnam’s rice price is still at the highest level.
The prices of 5% and 25% broken rice from Vietnam are both higher than the prices of the same type of rice from Thailand and Pakistan. Specifically, the price of 5% broken rice from Vietnam is 653 USD/ton (Thai rice price is 560 USD/ton, Pakistani rice price is 563 USD/ton). For 25% broken rice, the price of Vietnamese rice is 638 USD/ton, Thai rice price is 520 USD/ton and Pakistani rice price is 488 USD/ton.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it is expected that in October, rice exports will reach 700,000 tons, worth 433 million USD, unchanged in volume and up 27% in value over the same period in 2022. It is estimated that in the first 10 months of 2023, Vietnam will export about 7.1 million tons of rice, worth nearly 4 billion USD, up 17% in volume and up 35% in value over the same period.
Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of VFA, said that the current situation of rising Vietnamese rice prices has led to some cases where businesses have suffered too much loss and had to cancel contracts, especially for businesses with weak economic capacity.
In cases where large enterprises are almost finished delivering goods, to keep their reputation with their partners, they are forced to buy at high prices to collect enough goods to fulfill the contract. This is the main reason for the high price of rice.
According to Mr. Nam, "the price of Vietnamese rice increasing too high is not necessarily an advantage", because when the price is high, customers will look for other markets with better prices and rice quality equivalent to Vietnamese rice, especially Thailand, leading to the risk of losing the fragrant rice market (Dai Thom 8, OM 5451, ...) to Thai businesses because the price of rice in this country is very competitive compared to the price of Vietnamese fragrant rice.
Import and export of goods continue to flourish
With active and synchronous measures to remove difficulties to support domestic production, promote trade, and expand export markets continuing to be strongly implemented, import and export activities continued to show positive signs, regaining growth momentum in October 2023 after slowing down in the previous month.
The latest updated data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that the total import-export turnover of goods in October is estimated at 61.62 billion USD, up 4.1% over the previous month and up 5.6% over the same period last year.
In the first 10 months, the total import-export turnover of goods is estimated at 557.95 billion USD, down 9.6% over the same period last year.
Regarding goods exports, after a decline in goods export turnover in September (down 6.3%), goods export turnover in October regained growth momentum, estimated at 32.3 billion USD, up 5.3% over the previous month.
Compared to the same period last year, the export turnover of goods in October increased by 5.9%, of which the domestic economic sector increased by 15.1%, the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) increased by 3%. This is a very positive bright spot when the growth rate of domestic enterprises was 5 times higher than that of the foreign-invested sector.
In the first 10 months of 2023, the total export turnover of goods is estimated at 291.28 billion USD, down 7.1% over the same period last year, showing that the decline in export growth has narrowed significantly compared to the 12% decrease in the first half of 2023. In the first 10 months, there were 33 items with an export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 92.9% of the total export turnover (there were 7 items with an export turnover of over 10 billion USD, accounting for 66.2%).
Regarding the structure of export goods, in October 2023, the export turnover of most major commodities achieved positive growth compared to the same period last year due to the recovery in demand and the relatively low base level of the last months of 2022. In particular, the export of processed industrial goods continued to have a positive recovery in October with an export turnover increase of 4.6%. However, in the 10 months, the export turnover of this group decreased by 8.3% compared to the same period in 2022, estimated at 247.34 billion USD.
Meanwhile, although the export of some processed industrial products such as textiles, footwear, wood and wood products, etc. has shown positive signs of recovery recently, the overall recovery momentum is still slow.
Export turnover of fuel and mineral products in October 2023 decreased by 51.1% compared to the same period in 2022. In the first 10 months, export turnover of this product group decreased by 20.2% compared to the same period in 2022, estimated at only 3.27 billion USD.
On the other hand, agricultural products continue to make impressive contributions, being a bright spot in the country's export activities, especially agricultural products such as rice, vegetables, coffee, cashew nuts, etc. The export turnover of agricultural and aquatic products in October is estimated at 3 billion USD, up 18.3% over the same period last year. This is also the only group of products that recorded growth in the first 10 months of 2023, with an estimated export turnover of 26.7 billion USD, up 3.8%.
Rice is one of the commodities with high export turnover in the past 10 months. Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said that the price of rice among the people is at a record high, pushing domestic rice prices higher than export prices. This is also the reason why Vietnam's rice export prices are constantly going against the world trend.
A South Asian country pours money and increases wood purchases from Vietnam
According to the General Department of Customs, in September 2023, the export value of wood and wood products reached 1.14 billion USD, down 12% compared to August 2023, but up 1% compared to September 2022. Of which, the export value of wood products reached 760 million USD, down 9.5% compared to August 2023, but up 1.7% compared to September 2022.
In the first 9 months of 2023, the export value of wood and wood products reached 9.6 billion USD, down 21.8% over the same period in 2022. Of which, the export value of wood products reached 6.5 billion USD, down 24.5% over the same period in 2022.
Notably, wood and wood product exports to the US market in September 2023 gradually recovered, reaching 616.9 million USD, up 7.5% compared to September 2022. In the first 9 months of 2023, wood and wood product exports to the US market reached 5.2 billion USD, down 24.2% compared to the same period in 2022.
In the first 9 months of 2023, wood and wood products were exported to a number of other markets such as: Japan reached 1.26 billion USD, down 9.2% over the same period in 2022; followed by the Chinese market reaching 1.23 billion USD, down 24.5%; South Korea reached 583 million USD, down 21.4%...
Notably, the export value of wood and wood products to the Indian market recorded strong growth.
Specifically, in September 2023, exports of wood and wood products to this South Asian country reached more than 12.6 million USD, an increase of 252.7% compared to September 2022. In the first 9 months of 2023, the export turnover to India reached 77.5 million USD, an increase of 263.3% over the same period in 2022. Thus, the third quarter is the strongest growth quarter since the beginning of the year.
Despite high growth, India only accounted for 0.8% of Vietnam's wood and wood products exports in the first 9 months of 2023. This figure has increased significantly compared to 0.2% in 2022.
As a bright spot in the export picture of the wood industry, however, according to the Binh Duong Wood Processing Association, in the Indian market, consumer tastes are different from those in Europe and the United States. The products used are "tailored" and not suitable for Vietnamese production. Only young people in India today use the same products as those in Western countries, however, this rate is not high. Therefore, the United States is still the leading important market for the Vietnamese wood industry.
Currently, the country has more than 5,400 enterprises investing in the production and processing of wooden furniture. Vietnamese wooden products are present in 140 countries and territories. Vietnam currently ranks 5th in the world, 2nd in Asia and 1st in Southeast Asia in terms of export turnover of wood and wooden products.
Durian exports skyrocket, expected to reach 2 billion USD in 2023
In the first 9 months, Vietnam exported durian to 9 countries with a turnover of over 1.7 billion USD, an increase of 7 times compared to the same period last year. This is the latest statistics from the customs agency. Accordingly, durian has the strongest growth rate among the fruit group. China is the leading country with a consumption of 1.57 billion USD of durian in 9 months, accounting for 92% of the total export turnover of this fruit and an increase of several dozen times compared to the same period in previous years.
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| Vietnamese durian has an increasing advantage after signing a Protocol with China. (Source: Vietnamnet) |
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that with this surge, durian exports this year are expected to reach 2 billion USD. This is also a record, raising Vietnam's export market share of this item to surpass Malaysia and the Philippines in the Chinese market.
Vietnamese durian has an increasing advantage after signing the Protocol with China. In addition, the short transportation time and the freshness of Vietnamese products make them highly competitive compared to Thai, Malaysian and Philippine products. If Vietnamese durian is carefully engineered and produced with high quality, there will be no need to worry about losing market share in China.
According to export enterprises, the durian crop in the Central Highlands provinces is nearing its end, so output is gradually decreasing. Therefore, durian prices may increase in the coming time. The Central Highlands is a growing area of up to 70,000 hectares, accounting for about 50% of Vietnam. Central Highlands durian is attractive to the Chinese market because Thai products are out of season at this time.
In addition to the Chinese market, Vietnamese durian is also attracting customers from the US and Canada. In the first 9 months of the year, purchasing power in these two markets increased 2-3 times compared to the same period last year.
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