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Vietnam rice exports slump as Thailand takes over major markets
Vietnam’s rice exports suffered drops in both volume and value in the first four months of this year in an unusual development as many of their traditional markets have been taken over by Thailand, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) reported last week.
Last month the Southeast Asian country exported nearly 537,000 tons of rice of all kinds, raking in US$236.8 million in revenue, the VFA said in a report dated April 28.
Export volume fell 7.32 percent compared to a month earlier and was far below the target of 700,000 tons.
“This is an unusual development as April used to be a key month for exports thanks to abundant supply from the winter-spring crop,” the association remarked.
The slump in April made total exports in the first four months reach only 1.75 million tons, worth $765 million, an 18.17 percent decrease in volume and 18.49 percent slip in value compared to the same period last year.
The VFA noted that most of the rice shipments last month were to China, which accounted for 60 percent of the total volume.
Malaysia and some African nations are among the traditional markets of Vietnam’s rice exporters, with Africa being the second-largest market after China.
“But we have lost this major market to Thailand,” the VFA said.
Malaysia has already purchased rice from Thailand to meet domestic demand for the whole year of 2014, while Indonesia is not in demand of importing rice.
“The Thais are selling rice at any cost to empty their huge stockpiles, so it is impossible for Vietnam to compete,” VFA deputy chairman Pham Van Bay explained.
Thailand currently has massive stockpiles of 14 million to 17 million tons of unsold rice, according to the latest reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The only positive development in the year to date is the contract to export 800,000 tons of rice to the Philippines Vietnam won in a tender in mid-April.
The VFA forecast that Vietnam’s rice shipments will top 6.2 million tons by the end of this year, excluding exports across the border with China.
“The main objective is to export all of the rice purchased from local farmers,” Bay said.
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