Vietnam becomes the largest rice exporting partner in Singapore

The Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore said: The first 3 months of 2024 marked the rise of Vietnam as it became the largest rice exporting country to the Singapore market for the first time in recent times, accounting for 32.03% of the market share, higher than India (6.96%) and Thailand (8.28%). At the same time, India and Thailand held the next 2 positions with turnovers of 33.63 million SGD and 33.16 million SGD, respectively. The top 3 exporting countries accounted for 91.21% of the rice market share in Singapore.

Rice packaging line for export at the factory of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company (Can Tho). Photo courtesy

According to statistics from the Singapore Corporate Governance Authority, Vietnam's rice exports to the Singapore market in the first 3 months of 2024 continued to grow very well, reaching a turnover of about 36.15 million SGD, an increase of 80.46% over the same period in 2023.

The decline in groups such as regular brown rice and white rice was offset by a very strong increase in groups such as glutinous rice (turnover of SGD 3.79 million, up 221.76%), fragrant milled or peeled rice (turnover of SGD 18.06 million, up 291.17%) and broken rice (turnover of SGD 575 thousand, up 111.4%).

Notably, in addition to Vietnam's traditional strength of white rice, two other groups of products, glutinous rice and fragrant rice, milled or dehusked, have also risen to dominate the majority of market shares in Singapore, reaching 80.08% and 73.33% respectively. This is the main factor that helped Vietnam surpass Thailand and India to become the country with the largest rice market share in Singapore.

In addition, India is also the country that almost completely dominates the market with its typical products of parboiled rice (accounting for 99.29%) and milled or dehusked basmati rice (accounting for 95.66%). For the remaining rice products, Thailand almost holds the largest market share, specifically: homali brown rice (98.26%), homali white rice (96.83%), broken rice (68.16%). For the regular brown rice group, Japan holds the largest market share (71.72%).

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, Thailand, India and Japan are Vietnam's biggest competitors in the Singapore rice market. The ban on exporting non-basmati rice from India (the country that dominates the market share of white rice, Vietnam's strength) from July 20, 2023 has been well taken advantage of by Vietnamese businesses to increase their market share and export value to Singapore.

In particular, Vietnamese enterprises seem to have successfully expanded their market to other products such as glutinous rice and fragrant rice, milled or dehusked. However, this trend still needs more time and effort to ensure the sustainable maintenance of the largest partner position. In addition, Vietnamese enterprises need to continue to improve their competitiveness and ensure the quality of rice products.

Furthermore, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore has deployed product displays, increasing the presence of Vietnamese rice products in the area; supporting the sending of delegations from Singapore to participate in rice promotion activities in Vietnam. However, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore also pointed out that: Countries such as Thailand, Japan, and India are also very interested in investing in promoting product images as well as having agreements with importers and distributors on keeping product names and brands. However, Vietnamese rice exporting enterprises have weak potential and rarely invest in promoting and introducing products, so importers and distribution systems in Singapore do not want to use Vietnamese product brands, mainly importing raw rice and then packaging the models, packaging and domestic brands of Singapore for easy consumption in the market.

Citing statistics from the Singapore Enterprise Management Authority, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore said that in the first 3 months of 2024, the total value of rice imports from the world to the Singapore market increased sharply by 23.86% over the same period, reaching nearly 112.9 million SGD. In terms of volume, the total import volume of 9 main types of rice (HS10062010, HS10062090, HS10063030, HS10063040, HS10063091, HS10063099 and HS10064090, HS10063050, HS10063070) is estimated at about 110,636 tons, up 6.15% over the same period in 2023.

Regarding the market share structure of rice products, white rice accounts for the largest market share (25.09%), followed by milled or peeled fragrant rice (21.82%), parboiled rice (19.75%), and hom ma li white rice (16.43%). Other rice products are equally divided into the remaining segments.

To increase market share and sustainably maintain the leading position, and compete with rice products from India and Thailand, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore recommends the support of ministries, sectors, localities, industry associations and businesses. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen trade promotion, promote product brands, business brands, increase product presence in the area, and maintain product quality assurance. In addition, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on rice cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore could be an effective tool to maintain the No. 1 position of Vietnamese rice products in the Singapore market.

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