|
Rice traders urged to step up exports
Vietnamese rice exporters were urged to boost exports to take advantage of relatively good global prices and scarce supply, a conference in Ha Noi on Tuesday heard.
At the conference, Pham Quang Dieu, director of the Information Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (AGROINFO), said that the international rice market this year was expected to follow last year’s trend when prices rose in the first half of the year and dropped in the last six months due to excessive supply.
This year, the world’s rice yield would probably rise by 3.1 per cent reaching 29.7 million tonnes, he said, adding that rice exports were expected to increase by 2.98 per cent while imports should rise by 0.11 per cent.
In addition, competition in the rice export market would be stiffer towards the end of the year as India and Thailand – two leading rice exporting nations – returned to the market after suspending exports. Viet Nam’s rice production in the summer-autumn crop is expected to be 8 million tonnes, Dieu said.
The world rice price is just below US$600 per tonne, which is why Thailand halted exports, said Nguyen Dinh Bich, a rice expert at the Trade Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The rice market always fluctuates. It is therefore unusual that the price has been stable this year, but this will not last long, he said, urging Viet Nam to increase exports to take advantage of relatively favourable prices.
"Our country does not have the technology to preserve rice like Thailand, thus the more rice we keep in stock, the greater the disadvantage.
The more we export now, the better," Bich said.
"This is the right policy because from now until the end of the year, Thailand will certainly have to export the rice it has in stock, which will cause a decline in world rice prices. Thailand now has a record rice stockpile of 8 million tonnes," Bich added.
According to Truong Thanh Phong, chairman of the Viet Nam Food Association (VFA), Thailand is planning to sell 3.8 million tonnes of the rice it has in stock, while India plans to export 2 million tonnes.
"If we can export 6 million tonnes of rice this year, it will be a great success," Bich said.
The VFA reported that in the first half of July, rice enterprises won contracts to ship 195,000 tonnes of rice, raising the total rice export volume to be sold abroad this year to 5.4 million tonnes.
From January to June, Viet Nam exported 3.6 million tonnes of rice, earning a turnover of $1.5 billion.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
|
