Vietnam eyes ways to sell rice directly to Africa

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has discussed with the South African Spectrascape Company a project to enable Vietnamese rice to enter directly the South African and African markets.

The “Project Malbas” will help African consumers buy quality Vietnamese rice at a reasonable price, Gloria Njiji, Executive Director of the Spectrascape Company said, quoting the current high prices of rice in Africa, which is imported via intermediaries.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam ships around 20-25 percent of its rice exports to Africa annually and is seeking direct and long-term rice deals with this potential market.

Though the nation’s export value declined due to the global financial crisis, rice still posted the highest export earning rise, raking in 1.16 billion USD from 2.53 million tonnes in the first four months, representing year-on-year increases of 42.5 percent and 51 percent, respectively.

The Vietnam Food Association reported that rice exporters have so far this year secured deals for exporting 4 million tonnes of this farm product.

The country plans to ship abroad 4.5-5 million tonnes of rice this year.

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