Vietnam's 'Pearl': Countries spend billions of dollars to buy, Thailand races to grow
VietNamNet•28/08/2024
From an importing country, Vietnam has become one of the top 3 largest rice exporting countries in the world , earning several billion USD each year. Our country's rice varieties are so outstanding that Thai and Cambodian farmers are competing to grow them.
Increasingly high prices These days, the export price of 5% broken rice from Vietnam continues to be the highest in the world, reaching 579 USD/ton, 11 USD/ton higher than the same type of competitor Thailand, 40 USD/ton higher than Pakistan. Our country's 25% broken rice export is also 27 USD/ton and 41 USD/ton higher than Thailand and Pakistan, respectively. In 2023, Vietnam will export about 8 million tons of rice, with an estimated value of 4.6 billion USD - setting a historical record since 1989. The price of Vietnamese rice at one point reached 663 USD/ton, the highest among the top rice exporting countries in the world. Businesses admit that for a long time, Vietnamese rice has always been associated with the image of low quality and cheap prices. But now, Vietnamese rice is the most expensive thanks to improved rice quality; there are types of rice that are just as good, even better than competitors, including Thai rice.
Vietnamese rice export price surpasses Thailand and Pakistan. Photo: Tran Cong Dat
In some markets, the average export price of Vietnamese rice is sky-high, such as in Brunei it is up to 959 USD/ton, the US is 868 USD/ton, the Netherlands is 857 USD/ton, Ukraine is 847 USD/ton, Iraq is 836 USD/ton, Turkey is 831 USD/ton... At the end of last year, some companies exported rice to Germany at prices up to 1,800 USD/ton, to Japan at 1,200 USD/ton. "Vietnamese rice is not only sold to poor countries but is gradually entering high-end markets such as Japan, Korea, the US, Europe,... Bags of rice printed with the Vietnam Rice brand confidently appear on the shelves of major supermarket chains around the world. Vietnamese rice is honored in the group of the best rice in the world, on the menu of politicians, and is the choice of famous chefs", said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan. Vietnam has become a world rice powerhouse, with rice exports bringing in several billion USD per year. According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, as of mid-August this year, our country has exported 5.7 million tons of rice, earning nearly 3.59 billion USD. Compared to the same period last year, rice exports only increased slightly by 6.5% in volume but the value increased sharply by 24.7%. The rice industry aims to export Vietnam's "pearl" to reach 5 billion USD this year, not only because of high prices but also because many markets have increased their purchases. For example, in Indonesia, in the bidding rounds at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the bid packages won by Vietnamese enterprises always overwhelmed their Thai competitors. In the upcoming bidding round for a 350,000-ton rice package, Indonesia also hopes to be able to buy rice from Vietnam. Thailand, Cambodia compete to grow Vietnamese rice varieties Talking about the success of Vietnam's rice industry, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tra My - General Director of PAN Group - said that our country has a dense irrigation system with all types and scales for all ecological regions, so rice irrigation is guaranteed, contributing to stabilizing the yield and quality of rice grains. In addition, Vietnam's rice breeding strategy according to the model of combining high yield but short or extremely short growing period (90-110 days) and high quality has brought success to this industry, helping Vietnamese rice grains affirm their position on the world "rice map". She said that in the Mekong Delta, rice varieties have a growing period of only 90-105 days, a yield of 7-8 tons/ha and good quality. These are also the main rice varieties for export. Thanks to that, the quality of exported rice has been raised to a new level. Thanks to the superior characteristics of Vietnamese rice varieties, the leader of PAN Group informed that Thai farmers have switched to using our country's Jasmine 85 variety. Or Cambodian farmers also prefer Vietnamese fragrant rice varieties and choose to grow a lot of them. Earlier this year, the president of the Cambodian Rice Federation admitted: "In 2023, our farmers switched production from local rice varieties to famous, specialty fragrant rice varieties of Vietnam such as OM 5451, ST and Dai Thom 8 because of higher economic efficiency."
Vietnam is implementing large-scale emission-reducing rice cultivation. Photo: Ho Hoang Hai
Our country has brown planthopper-resistant rice varieties from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Mr. Ho Quang Cua's ST25 variety has twice won the World's Best Rice award. The famous Dai Thom 8 rice variety is favored by farmers nationwide, contributing more than 30% of Vietnam's fragrant rice exports... At the end of this year, PAN will launch a new improved rice variety with even more outstanding characteristics in terms of drought and salinity tolerance and delicious rice quality, suitable for all climate conditions of the North - Central - South, especially the harsh Summer-Autumn crop in the North, Ms. Tra My revealed. Not only overcoming the "curse" of low-quality and cheap Vietnamese rice, the pilot areas under the project "Sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality and low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta by 2030" have harvested the first crops. Vietnam is the first country in the world to produce large-scale emission-reducing rice. Therefore, Minister Le Minh Hoan believes that this project is not simply about zoning high-quality rice cultivation areas but is the starting point for a new revolution in production to prove that Vietnam's way of producing rice is transparent and responsible. The head of Vietnam's agricultural sector also pointed out that the path of rice does not stop at rice grains. The destination is that we sell rice products. The image of rice grains is not only about length, roundness, sweetness, and aroma, but also about the community of people who produce and deliver rice grains to consumers. That image will gradually become the brand "Vietnamese Rice".
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