The latest report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that global rice production in the 2023-2024 crop year is lower than consumption, causing a global shortage of about 7 million tons of rice. This puts Vietnam's rice export industry in front of a great opportunity.
According to Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, Director of the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy, rice is an export product closely associated with the national brand and reputation in relation to the world. Therefore, rice export must be both skillful to achieve the highest economic benefits and ensure domestic food security as well as macroeconomic stability.
There are not many rice exporting countries in the world. Therefore, when reserves decrease, extreme climate change strongly affects rice production, causing a few countries to apply rice export restriction policies, which will greatly affect the international market.
“ The role of major rice exporting countries like Vietnam is not only a business story, not only stabilizing domestic prices but also food security for Vietnam, for countries in the region and for the world.
Therefore, facing a great opportunity to increase market share and possibly have good prices, we need clever policies to ensure domestic food security, maintain good prices and contribute to ensuring supply for the world and the region," said Dr. Vo Tri Thanh.
The world lacks 7 million tons of rice, Vietnam faces great opportunities in export. (Illustration photo)
Mr. Thanh believes that Vietnam can seize the opportunity and achieve what the rice export industry has achieved in 2023. Last year, Vietnamese rice set an unprecedented record in history when it exported 8.1 million tons and reached a value of 4.8 billion USD (up 17.4% in volume and 39.4% in value compared to the previous year). Notably, the average export price was very high at 575 USD/ton.
“We still ensure national reserves, at the same time take advantage of the increase in world rice prices and ensure that source of profit for businesses and people, who are being affected by the post-COVID-19 pandemic and a series of difficulties such as delays, contract disruptions, etc.
This year, with better conditions, achieving the above is completely possible," Dr. Vo Tri Thanh expressed optimism.
For businesses, the problem of the current rice market is timing: the time to negotiate, the time to sign contracts, the time to purchase from farmers... because rice prices change every day and every party wants to gain the greatest profit in business.
" However, it is necessary to pay special attention to increasing flexibility in signing contracts to avoid disputes and loss of reputation in the market, " Mr. Thanh emphasized.
What should Vietnam do to seize the "golden" opportunity?
Responding to VTC News , Professor Vo Tong Xuan commented that the world's shortage of about 7 million tons of rice is a good opportunity for people in the Mekong Delta in particular and farmers across the country in general to improve productivity and quality to meet Vietnam's rice export needs.
However, to seize this opportunity, Vietnam needs to promote the exploitation of existing land areas by intensively increasing the number of crops, while still ensuring the process of growing quality and safe rice according to set standards.
“ In the Mekong Delta alone, there are currently about 1.5 million hectares of rice land. Normally, we produce 2 crops, if necessary, we produce 3 crops, or even 4 crops, which means doubling the area and rice output. This 1.5 million hectares is a good production area, always with fresh water.
If we have a big export opportunity, we can inform businesses and farmers to thoroughly intensify farming, that is, do 4 crops to increase rice productivity ," said Mr. Xuan.
Mr. Xuan calculated: If the 4-crop process is followed correctly, 6 million hectares can be planted, in which each hectare has the lowest yield of 5 tons of rice, not to mention the possibility of reaching a yield of 8-10 tons/ha. With this potential, this is a good condition for improving production efficiency for export, increasing income for rice farmers.
However, according to Mr. Xuan, production must be calculated to avoid falling into a surplus crisis because some other countries may also take this opportunity to increase intensive farming.
Along with that, Vietnam needs to further improve the quality of rice and proactively set selling prices to increase product value, not just keep following world prices.
Regarding the goal of boosting rice exports without falling into a domestic food shortage crisis, Professor Vo Tong Xuan said that this is not too worrying because the management agency has grasped the amount of rice that domestic demand needs to use to request storage.
" At the same time, in just 3.5 months we will start a new harvest season, so even if we increase rice exports, we will not worry about shortages," Professor Vo Tong Xuan commented.
Source
Comment (0)