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According to the preliminary statistics of the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s rice exports in February reached 562,943 tons with a value of over 373 million USD, up 9.9% in terms of quantity and 3.1% in terms of turnover compared to the previous month.
The export price averaged $663/ton, down 6% compared to January 2024. In the first 2 months of the year, our country exported over 1 million tons of rice, with a value of over 735 million USD, up 20.4% in terms of quantity and 55.7% in terms of turnover.
Rice exports to most markets have grown in the first 2 months of the year. The top 3 largest rice import markets of Vietnam in the first 2 months of the year are the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This position has changed as in 2023, China was the 3rd largest importer.
Source: General Department of Customs
Specifically, our country exported 500,195 tons of rice to the Philippines in the first 2 months of the year, equivalent to over 337 million USD, up 24.4% in terms of quantity and 64.7% in terms of turnover compared to the same period of 2023.
Rice exports to Indonesia ranked 2nd in the market with 219,165 tons, equivalent to 141.69 million USD, up strongly 52.4% in terms of quantity and 110.5% in terms of turnover compared to the same period last year.
Malaysia has emerged as the 3rd largest market with 38,257 tons, equivalent to 24.7 million USD, up 112.3% in terms of quantity and 145.3% in terms of turnover.
It is worth noting that France is experiencing a sharp increase in rice imports from Vietnam with the highest price among the markets. At the end of February, our country exported 18,269 tons of rice to France with a value of over 18.9 million USD, up sharply 14,285% in terms of quantity and 17,963% in terms of value compared to the same period of the previous year. This is also the largest rice importing country of Vietnam in the EU bloc.
The export price reached 1,035 USD/ton, while in the same period last year, the export price was only 843 USD/ton. In 2023, France ranked 24th, but now it has risen to 5th among Vietnam’s importers.
Source: General Department of Customs
After a prolonged increase in 2023, export rice prices have started to decline recently. The decrease in export rice prices is due to countries entering the main harvest season, the abundant supply, so importers are finding ways to delay orders. The decreasing trend has affected domestic rice prices. Accordingly, the price of rice in the Mekong Delta provinces has decreased from 1,000-2,000 VND/kg compared to before Lunar New Year.
However, experts predict that this downward trend is only temporary. Meanwhile, according to the forecast of the US Department of Agriculture, the world will face a shortage of about 8.6 million tons of rice in 2024. The leading importing countries are the Philippines, Indonesia, and China, all planning to increase rice imports this year. In which, the Philippines is expected to import a record 3.8 million tons of rice and Indonesia also plans to import about 3.6 million tons of rice.
For China, after a long time of suspending imports and using stockpiled rice, it has begun to plan to import rice again. Meanwhile, India, the country with the largest rice production in the world, will continue its policy of restricting rice exports to stabilize food prices domestically.
