Vietnam's rice imports increase sharply in 9 months

According to preliminary statistics from the General Department of Customs, in the past 9 months, Vietnam has exported more than 7 million tons of rice with a value of 4.37 billion USD. In terms of turnover, Vietnam's rice exports have increased by 23.5%. On the other hand, our country's rice import turnover has also increased sharply. In September, our country's rice import turnover skyrocketed by 154.2% compared to the same period last year, reaching 117 million USD.

Vietnam spent 996 million USD to import rice in 9 months. Photo: TH

In the first 9 months, Vietnam spent a total of 996 million USD to import rice products to serve domestic production and consumption needs, up 57.3% over the same period last year. This is a record high for the rice industry so far, and far exceeds the import turnover of 860 million USD for the whole year of 2023.

If the import rate is maintained as in the past two months, our country's rice import turnover in 2024 could reach 1.3 billion USD.

The above figure is surprising to many people, because Vietnam is the world's top rice exporting country but has to spend a large amount of money to import this item every year.

Rice has many different segments, for example, rice for cooking; raw rice for making cakes, vermicelli, pho... Therefore, besides being one of the leading rice exporting countries in the world, our country still imports rice for production purposes.

In fact, rice products have many different segments such as: Rice for cooking; raw rice for processing into cakes, vermicelli, pho,... Therefore, in recent years, in addition to exporting, our country has also imported a large amount of rice to compensate when necessary.

Vietnamese rice is still a world-famous brand, surpassing even rice-producing countries like Thailand in 2021. Since last year, at many times, Vietnamese rice prices have far exceeded those of competitors Thailand and Pakistan.

Statistics show that the average export price of rice from Vietnam in the first 9 months of this year was 624 USD/ton, up 13.1% over the same period last year. Meanwhile, according to records from businesses, the price of imported rice to Vietnam is commonly around 480-500 USD/ton.

In recent years, farmers have also gradually switched to growing fragrant rice and high-quality rice. The prices of these types of rice on the market are very high. To make vermicelli, pho, and rice paper, you only need rice that is chewy, expands, and has a low price.

In addition, domestic rice supply is currently limited, and some export enterprises have to increase rice imports from neighboring countries to pay for export orders in the last months of the year.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/nhap-khau-gao-cua-viet-nam-tang-manh-trong-9-thang-349564.html