Vietnam leverages rice exports but assures food security

Vietnam, the world’s third-largest rice exporter after India and Thailand, is expected to ship abroad 7.5 million tons of rice this year while maintaining national food security, officials said.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, at a Friday meeting in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on the management of rice exports for the remainder of the year, announced this expected total shipment, which is clearly higher than the 7.1 million tons of rice Vietnam exported last year.

The meeting was held as global rice prices continue to rise, and India last month ordered a halt to its largest rice export category to calm domestic prices, which climbed to multi-year highs in recent weeks as erratic weather threatens production.

The Vietnamese trade minister noted that following the move by India, the export price of Vietnam’s 5% broken rice rose from $535 to $602 per ton, and the price of its Jasmine rice jumped from $625 to $690 per ton.

Dien said domestic exporters need to speed up shipments but regulators must safeguard national food security.

Vietnam’s 2023 rice production is expected to reach 43.2 or 43.4 million tons, up 1.8-2% compared to last year, Tran Duy Dong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's (MoIT) import-export department, told the meeting, citing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The rice output in the first seven months of this year exceeded 24.1 million tons, up 0.4% year-on-year, Dong said.

He noted that provinces across the country have plans to expand this autumn-winter and next spring's rice crops to a total of 700,000 hectares, an increase of 50,000 hectares compared with last year.

MARD Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam told the conference: "We [MARD] are certain that in 2023, Vietnam will harvest 43.1 million tons of unmilled rice, equivalent to over 20 tons of rice, to ensure both national food security and shipment increases."

Hoang Trung, another MARD Deputy Minister, said that if the total area for rice cultivation is expanded by 50,000 hectares as planned, Vietnam could earn an extra $100 million.

“This would mean higher rice supply for the world and higher income for Vietnamese farmers,” he said.

Vietnam is also buying rice from neighboring Cambodia to process for export, according to MARD.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) All Rice Price Index, which tracks prices in key exporting countries, averaged 129.7 points in July against 126.2 points the previous month, the UN agency said Friday.

This index rose 2.8% in July from a month earlier to its highest level in nearly 12 years as prices in key exporting countries jumped on strong demand and India’s move to curb exports, the FAO said, adding that the July score was almost 20% higher than last year’s 108.4 points and the highest since September 2011.

India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan are among the leading exporters of rice. China, Philippines, Benin, Senegal, Nigeria and Malaysia are key importers of the staple.