It's too early to be happy even though rice prices have risen again.

The Mekong Delta is entering the harvest season for the first crop of the 2024-2025 winter-spring rice crop. This is the biggest rice crop of the year for people in the Mekong Delta. After the Lunar New Year of 2025, the slight increase in rice prices by 200-400 VND/kg has left farmers feeling both happy and worried.

Rice prices have risen again after Tet (Lunar New Year) but are still lower than the same period last year because other countries have not yet purchased much - Photo: T. HUYEN

Nevertheless, rice prices this year are lower than last year. According to businesses, some newly opened businesses, with small contracts at the beginning of the new year, helped to slightly increase rice prices, but it is difficult for prices to rise further during the peak harvest season. However, farmers are still making a profit due to higher rice yields in some areas.

Rice prices have increased but remain at low levels.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhon (Vinh Khanh commune, Thoai Son district, An Giang province) said that for the 2024-2025 winter-spring crop, his family planted over 8 hectares of OM380 rice variety. Although there is still more than a month until harvest, he is quite worried because the price of rice is more "unstable" than last year.

Compared to before Tet (Lunar New Year), the price of OM380 rice has increased by 300-400 VND/kg, fluctuating between 4,800-4,900 VND/kg, but still not as high as expected. "If this winter-spring crop yields less than 1 ton of rice per hectare, coupled with this price, farmers will not make much profit."

"Only if the rice yield exceeds 1 ton per hectare will there be a slight profit. This year, the weather has been favorable for rice cultivation, so we hope for a high yield," Mr. Nhon said.

According to Mr. Tran Van Bao (Khanh Binh Tay Bac commune, Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province), who just finished harvesting over 2 hectares of ST25 rice, this season, although the price wasn't high, the yield was good due to favorable weather. "After the harvest, my family set aside a small amount to dry and save for consumption, and sold the rest. Now, with the price of rice at 9,000 VND/kg, we can still sell it. If we dried it again, there wouldn't be enough space, and there would be significant losses, and it would cost a lot of labor," Mr. Bao said.

For the early winter-spring rice crop in 2025, Ca Mau province has over 35,220 hectares. Of this, Tran Van Thoi district planted the most rice with over 28,900 hectares, of which approximately 4,100 hectares have been harvested so far. According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Khai, deputy head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Tran Van Thoi district, rice prices have increased by a few hundred dong/kg compared to the period before Tet, with some areas seeing an increase of about 1,000 dong/kg, but prices are still lower than at the same time last year.

Specifically, ST24 and ST25 rice varieties were sold at households for 8,600 - 8,900 VND/kg, a decrease of 2,000 - 3,000 VND/kg compared to the same period last year; Dai Thom 8 variety ranged from 6,200 - 6,700 VND/kg, a decrease of 1,500 - 2,000 VND/kg compared to the same period last year. OM (5451, 576) varieties were priced from 6,000 - 6,500 VND/kg, a decrease of 1,000 - 1,500 VND/kg compared to the same period last year.

Rice prices are unlikely to rise sharply during peak harvest season.

Speaking with us, the leader of a rice export company in Kien Giang province said that the price of Dai Thom 8 rice is fluctuating between 6,500 and 6,700 VND/kg depending on the region, lower than the same period last year, but rice farmers are still making a profit, although not as much as in the same period.

"At this price, those who rent land to grow rice will find it difficult to make a profit. I remember last year, after Tet, the price of rice was over 8,000 VND/kg, but now it's only over 6,500 VND/kg. In my opinion, from now until the peak harvest of the 2024-2025 winter-spring crop, the price of rice could fluctuate by 500 VND/kg, and it's unlikely to drop sharply," this person commented.

According to a leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of An Giang province, for the 2024-2025 winter-spring rice crop, farmers have harvested over 1,514 hectares so far, reaching 0.6% of the total area (227,800 hectares), with an average yield of 6.16 tons/ha.

Reports indicate that rice prices have increased by 200-400 VND/kg compared to before Tet (Lunar New Year). The agricultural sector continues to monitor and update the rice harvest situation in various localities.

"Compared to the same period of the 2023-2024 winter-spring crop, the price of this rice is about 1,000-1,200 VND/kg lower, but farmers are still making a profit. For lower-grade rice varieties like IR50404 and OM380, the profit is about 1,500-2,000 VND/kg lower. High-quality rice varieties like OM18 and Dai Thom 8 yield higher profits," this person said.

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company (Can Tho City), said that rice prices have slightly increased again compared to before Tet. The reason for the increase in rice prices after Tet is partly due to businesses reopening and purchasing rice according to custom, and signing contracts for small quantities.

"Although the demand for rice imports from other countries remains very high, Vietnam's traditional rice importers have already imported a large amount of rice in 2024, so there is no urgent need to import more. Countries are also aware that Vietnam is entering the winter-spring rice harvest season, so they are waiting for rice prices to fall before purchasing, making it difficult for rice prices to rise sharply," Mr. Binh said.

Many countries want to buy rice but are waiting for prices to fall.

According to Mr. Pham Thai Binh, at the beginning of the new year, rice exporting businesses in the Mekong Delta opened for business and signed rice export contracts with traditional trading partners, but not in large quantities, only in limited amounts. It is likely that rice prices will not increase from now until the peak harvest season.

"Despite huge demand, rice-importing countries are waiting for rice prices to fall before buying. To break this trend, Vietnam must develop its rice industry sustainably. That means production must be closely linked to consumption," Mr. Binh said.

"Sometimes, even just a few months like this, if we don't proactively manage consumption and production, we'll clearly have to sell off our stock at rock-bottom prices. Not to mention some businesses that lack sufficient capital and have to sign contracts to sell off their stock at a loss, scrambling for cash flow to repay bank loans. There's no other way than to successfully implement the Government-approved project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice," Mr. Binh added.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chua-the-vui-du-gia-lua-tang-lai-20250205224617211.htm