Many rice export contracts continuing from 2017 and Indonesia’s import order at the year’s beginning amid limited rice supply are positive signs for Vietnam’s rice exports.
Rice bags are loaded onto a barge for shipment (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Many rice export contracts continuingfrom 2017 and Indonesia’s import order at the year’s beginning amid limitedrice supply are positive signs for Vietnam’s rice exports.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA),more than 5.7 million tonnes of rice was shipped abroad in 2017, surpassinglast year’s target. There remain some 630,000 tonnes of rice under contractssigned last year to be shipped in 2018.
While the remaining unsold rice volume is small,about 100,000 tonnes, the winter-spring harvest season has yet to reach itspeak, leading to limited domestic supply. This is a reason behind Vietnam’s bidto sell only 141,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia recently.
Nguyen Ngoc Nam, Acting Director General of theVietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) – one of the two Vietnamesefirms winning the bid for rice export to Indonesia this time, said at theoutset of 2018, Indonesia suddenly invited tenders for 500,000 tonnes of riceand requested rice be delivered in February.
Eight companies from Vietnam, Thailand, Indiaand Pakistan won rice supply bids but with small volumes, 346,000 tonnes intotal. This result showed the unsold inventory of some rice exporting countriesis not abundant, he added.
Global rice demand is forecast to soar in 2018,and China will remain the biggest rice importer. While Indonesia resumed rice importsafter a two-year halt, the Philippines is also predicted to buy more rice. Theserosy signs are expected to give a boost to rice exporters, including Vietnam,according to the VFA.
The US Department of Agriculture forecastVietnam’s rice export volume will rise by 400,000 tonnes from 2017 to more than6 million tonnes this year, mainly thanks to higher demand in Southeast Asia.
In January, the country shipped 524,000 tonnesof rice worth 249 million USD abroad, up 56.5 percent in volume and 74.2 percentin value from a year earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentreported.-VNA
Vietnam shipped abroad nearly 5.2 million tonnes of rice worth over 2.27 billion USD in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the figure of the entire 2016 at 4.9 million tonnes.
Contrary to pessimistic forecasts earlier in 2017, after a drop in 2016, the country’s rice exports had a successful year in 2017, with some higher-than-expected figures.
Vietnamese rice exports have got off to a positive start right from the outset of the year, with promising signs from traditional rice importers like the Philippines and Indonesia.
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Rice bags are loaded onto a barge for shipment (Photo: VNA) 
