Vietnam's rice exports fall during January-August

Vietnam exported 432,000 tonnes of rice for US$ 191 million in August, bringing the total volume and value in the first eight months of this year to 3.37 million tonnes and US$ 1.51 billion.

Photo for Illustration (Pho to: Thai Thien).

The figures represented decreases of 16.6% in volume and 13.1% in value compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

China remained the biggest importer of Vietnam’s rice with 36% of the market share. A total of 1.04 million tonnes worth US$476 million were shipped to this market between January-July, down 21.6% in volume and 11.9% in value year-on-year.

Indonesia followed with 353,000 tonnes and US$140.4 million, up 25.5-fold in volume and 26.8-fold in value year-on-year.

Rice export to several markets suffered from drastic decreases, including the Philippines (66.4%), Malaysia (54.5%), and Singapore (36.3%).

However, it is noted that the Philippines will open bidding for 250,000 tonnes of rice on August 31 as part of its plan to import 1 million more tonnes of rice to ensure food for next year.

Vietnam will participate in this auction, according to the Vietnam Food Association.

(Source: NDO)