According to the US Department of Agriculture, Vietnam could export 8.6 million tons of rice in 2024. However, Vietnam is the world's third largest rice importer with 2.9 million tons.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, Vietnam could export a record 8.6 million tons of rice in 2024. However, on the other hand, Vietnam is the third largest rice importer in the world with 2.9 million tons, after Indonesia and the Philippines. Previously, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Department of Customs, in the first 9 months of 2024, Vietnam spent nearly 1 billion USD to import rice, an increase of 57.3% over the same period last year and surpassing the total import turnover of 2023.
Enterprises in the processing sector said that the reason why enterprises have to import rice to Vietnam is because in recent years the trend of rice cultivation has changed, farmers have switched to growing high-quality rice for export, with high selling prices. On average, the current export price of this type of rice is 624 USD/ton (in the first 9 months of 2024, it increased by 13% over the same period).
Meanwhile, imported rice is mainly cheap broken rice from India used to make cakes, vermicelli, food and animal feed... In addition to the Indian market, Vietnamese enterprises also import rice from Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia at lower prices than domestic rice. Currently, the price of imported rice to Vietnam fluctuates between 480 - 500 USD/ton. This makes enterprises choose to import rice that suits their needs to reduce input costs.
Rice businesses believe that importing rice for processing is understandable in commercial activities. Imported rice not only fills the gap in the low-grade rice segment but also has a cheap price, ensuring profits for businesses. Therefore, importing rice does not affect rice production but also helps stabilize the price and turnover of Vietnamese rice. In addition, the domestic rice supply is currently not much, some export businesses have to increase rice imports from neighboring countries to pay for export orders in the last months of the year. Summer-autumn rice output has decreased, while the autumn-winter crop, which has the lowest output of the year, will not be able to compensate. The crop failure in the North has affected 300,000 hectares of rice, further reducing supply, forcing businesses to import more to balance demand, which is also the reason why the amount of rice imported to Vietnam is large this year.
Experts from the Vietnam Food Association assessed that the domestic demand for low-grade rice is increasing, while Vietnam is pursuing a program to restructure the rice industry towards increasing the area of high-quality rice varieties, so finding new sources of goods is understandable.
Leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that rice imports do not affect food security. Vietnam still exports millions of tons of rice each year and imports up to millions of tons of cheap rice to meet diverse market needs.
Vietnam's rice imports for food processing and animal feed are increasing, which means that economic development has recovered, which is a positive sign. However, the most important thing is that the authorities need to continue to closely monitor and supervise rice imports, especially the origin of imported rice, so as not to affect Vietnamese rice exports in the market.
"According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the record high rice import turnover shows that the demand for investment in production of processing enterprises is very large. We export good rice and import cheap rice. That is also normal."
According to Cung Nguyen/VTV
Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/viet-nam-chi-1-ty-usd-nhap-khau-gao-binh-thuong-hay-bat-thuong/20241027050241488
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