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According to the preliminary statistics of the General Department of Customs, in February 2024, Vietnam imported 932,291 tons of corn, equivalent to over 237 million USD, a decrease of 5% in both quantity and value compared to the previous month. Accumulated in the first 2 months of the year, corn imports reached 487 million USD with over 1.91 million tons, an increase of 34% in quantity and 2% in value compared to the same period in 2023.
Notably, the imported corn price is decreasing rapidly, averaging 254 USD/ton, a decrease of 24% compared to the same period last year.
Brazil continues to be the main corn supplier to Vietnam in the first 2 months of 2024 with 1.18 million tons, equivalent to over 304 million USD, an increase of 43% in quantity and 11% in value.
The second largest market is Argentina, which reached 330,315 tons in the first 2 months of 2024, equivalent to 82.72 million USD, an increase of 18.8% in quantity but a decrease of 11.3% in value compared to the first 2 months of 2023.
Significantly, Laos has emerged as the third largest supplier of corn to Vietnam, with a production in the first 2 months of the year equal to half of 2023. Specifically, Vietnam imported 48,336 tons of corn from Laos in the first 2 months of the year, equivalent to 12.39 million USD, an increase of 9% in quantity and a decrease of 20% in value.
The import price averaged 256 USD, a decrease of 26% compared to the same period.
Source: TCHQ
According to Statista, Vietnam is one of the top 30 corn-growing countries in the world but at the same time is also among the largest corn-importing countries in the world, behind China, Europe, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Egypt.
Data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that Laos’ corn production reached 510,000 tons in the 2022-2023 crop year. The average for the 2018-2022 period, Laos’ corn production reached 597,000 tons.
As for Vietnam, data from the General Statistics Office shows that in 2022, corn production reached 4.41 million tons, a decrease of 0.8% compared to the previous year. Thus, comparing to 2022, Vietnam’s corn production is 8.5 times higher than the Laos market. In 2023, the production of food grain reached 47.9 million tons, an increase of 790 thousand tons compared to 2022, of which corn production reached 4.4 million tons, a decrease of 4.7 thousand tons.
Corn, especially sweet corn, is a major agricultural product in Laos, second only to rice, especially in Xayaboury province in northern Laos. Farmers in Xayaboury currently sell 70% of their corn production to China, Thailand, and Vietnam, while the rest is supplied to the domestic market.
The provincial government of Xayaboury has encouraged farmers to produce 300,000 tons of sweet corn for export in recent years, but this quantity has now decreased. Previously, finished sweet corn brought significant income to farmers and contributed to the economic development of the locality and the whole country.
According to the latest USDA forecast, global corn production in the new crop year 2023/24 is expected to reach 1,222.8 million tons, an increase of 6.3% compared to the 2022/23 crop year (1,150.7 million tons).
World corn exports are expected to increase by 12%, from 176.6 million tons in the 2022/23 crop year to 197.8 million tons in the new crop year. The US is the second largest exporter, reaching 53.3 million tons, an increase of 21.7% compared to the same period last year.
