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A successful year of rice cultivation and export
2011 is considered a golden year of rice exports as Vietnam expects to ship a record volume of seven million tonnes abroad and earn US$3.7 billion in revenue.
Efforts to iron out snags
In the early months of 2011, rice exports faced challenges as the Philippines, Vietnam’s biggest rice consumer, decided to cut its import orders while African and Middle Eastern markets were threatened by political instability.
Vietnam had to turn to traditional markets such as Indonesia and Bangladesh and find new markets such as Cote d’lvoire and Senegal.
Thanks to its timely move, Vietnam was able to export 1.85 million tonnes of rice in the first quarter (up 42 percent against the same period last year), earning US$884 million (up 46 percent).
In the third quarter Vietnam’s rice exports were in part affected by a change in the export policies of Thailand and India.
Vietnam then found it difficult to penetrate the African market as it had to compete with low-priced rice from India, Pakistan, and Myanmar, not to mention that thousands of ha of rice in the Mekong Delta were destroyed by natural calamities.
Despite such major challenges, Vietnam still reaped bumper rice crops with a record output of 41.5 million tonnes.
Thanks to better links between the domestic and world market, Vietnam has so far exported 6.8 million tonnes of rice and earned nearly US$3.5 billion, up 7.1 percent in volume and 16.7 percent in value.
Another reason for success was attributed to the price of rice, which has risen 8.1 percent to US$505 per tonne, as compared with last year.
In addition, increased investment in scientific and technological projects and application of new rice strains and advance cultivation methods have enabled farmers to achieve higher yield and profit.
Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang describes 2011 as a successful year of rice cultivation and export.
Improving quality of rice
In 2012, Vietnam will focus on improving the quality of rice to meet the demand of neighbouring markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as other countries in the hope that Vietnamese businesses will be able to win large contracts from those markets
Truong Thanh Phong, President of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) recommends rice businesses export more fragrant rice aside the set target of 400,000 tonnes for 2011.
It is also important to build strong brand names for special rice of high export value and develop large-scale paddy fields in the Mekong Delta.
vietnamnet
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