Vietnamese rice is expensive because of new rice varieties.
At the seminar "Long-term solutions for rice export" held on January 9, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that 2023 is a year of many miracles for Vietnamese rice when it exported about 8.29 million tons of rice, bringing in a value of 4.78 billion USD, an increase of 16.7% in volume and 38.4% in value compared to 2022. This is a record high number since 1989 when Vietnam started exporting rice. Also in 2023, Soc Trang's ST25 rice continued to win the "World's Best Rice" award. More specifically, the value of Vietnamese rice in the world market has been affirmed when import partners and consumers both favor Vietnamese rice.
In fact, according to agricultural expert - Professor Vo Tong Xuan, since our ST25 rice was honored as the world's best rice in 2019 in the Philippines, he shared at that conference that Vietnamese rice is not inferior to Thai rice.
Up to now, Professor Vo Tong Xuan affirmed that Vietnamese rice can be sold for 600-700 USD, even higher than Thailand's price because of the new rice variety. "Thailand's short-term rice is not as fragrant as our rice. This is not necessarily because India and Thailand are affected by climate change, but because Vietnamese rice has improved thanks to new varieties - while Thailand and India do not have them. Therefore, high prices will continue to be high. In particular, while Vietnam's rice-producing competitors are affected by climate change, Vietnam still arranges high-yield rice areas for 3-4 crops thanks to knowing how to live with climate change" - Professor Vo Tong Xuan predicted.
Rice prices in 2024 will remain high
Commenting on the market in 2024, Mr. Nguyen Vinh Trong - Director of Viet Hung Company Limited predicted that rice prices in 2024 and the coming years will remain high. Mr. Trong believes that Vietnam should take advantage of production and export opportunities to increase people's income. Because according to Mr. Trong, in previous years, rice exports were low and the current price is suitable for the efforts of the people.
Also stating that the market in 2024 has many favorable factors for exporting rice at good prices, Mr. Pham Thai Binh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company affirmed: 2024 could be better when we take advantage of market opportunities, consumption demand is still large. "The world is lacking rice, Vietnam is also affected by climate change, but we can still increase production" - Mr. Binh said and commented that this is not only a God-given opportunity but also an internal strength.
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| Need to rearrange rice production chain for long-term and sustainable development |
Need to rearrange the rice production value chain
The opportunity is there, but experts, businesses and management agencies attending the seminar forecast that the market in 2024 will be unpredictable and that from a production perspective, safety must be a top priority. More importantly, in the rice production chain, not only farmers make a profit, but businesses must also make a profit.
With 30 years of experience in rice export, Mr. Pham Thai Binh proposed to link businesses and farmers for mutual benefit. “The government has a solution, which is the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice. If successfully implemented, farmers will profit, businesses will profit,” Mr. Binh said.
Regarding this issue, Professor Vo Tong Xuan proposed: To participate in 1 million hectares of rice, provinces can encourage businesses to sign contracts in advance to deploy production with farmers.
Accordingly, cooperatives will be established or strengthened. Cooperatives will be trained in which rice varieties and processes to grow for farmers to follow. Cooperatives will produce according to business orders to have stable output.
In addition, Professor Vo Tong Xuan said that it is not necessary for everyone to pursue the production of delicious rice, because there are still markets that need rice flour. Instead, it is necessary to diversify the production of different rice varieties and types to sell to producers who make vermicelli, rice noodles, etc.
In addition, it is necessary to arrange the market, divide the market share of rice for export or domestic sale. If we do so, businesses will gradually no longer compete to buy and sell, but each business will have its own raw material area. "This is a long-term sustainable path for our rice to go far" - Professor Vo Tong Xuan affirmed.
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