The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the People's Committee of Can Tho City, on the afternoon of January 13, at Trung An Agricultural High-Tech Joint Stock Company (Trung An Company), held a ceremony to export the first batch of rice in 2021 by Trung An Company to Singapore and Malaysia.
In recent days, farmers in the Mekong Delta have been flexibly sowing the winter-spring rice crop early to avoid drought and saltwater intrusion at the end of the rice crop. Not only using high-quality rice varieties, but the percentage of farmers using certified rice varieties has also increased rapidly. These are important turning points in improving the quality of rice to enhance the value of Vietnamese rice in the international market.
At the end of the year, the weather in the South has started getting cold. This is also the time when the water in the fields downstream began to recede. Many farmers along the National Highway 61C, which connects Hau Giang and Can Tho provinces, are rushing to plow the soil to sow the winter-spring rice crop.
According to the Department of Crop Production, the EU's total demand for imported rice is 2.3 million tons per year, with a value of 1.4 billion euros in 2019. In comparison with other countries in the ASEAN, Vietnam's rice exports to the EU are only one-sixth of Thailand’s, one-tenth of Myanmar’s, and a quarter of Cambodia’s.
During these days, farmers in some provinces in the Mekong Delta have started to harvest early winter-autumn rice with the joy of a bumper crop and high prices.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on September 22 coordinated with the People's Committee of An Giang Province to hold the announcement ceremony of the export of the first batch of fragrant rice to Europe under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) with the participation of leaders of the MARD, other relevant ministries, and the representatives of the European Union in Vietnam.
The EU has raised the quota of rice imports from Vietnam from 50,000 tons to 80,000 tons per year. Of which, the additional 30,000 tons of rice is fragrant rice from the Mekong Delta, which will receive a tariff wild card, and according to the schedule, its import tariff will be at zero percent within the next 3-5 years.
According to rice experts, after winning the World’s Best Rice award, Vietnamese rice has resonated in the global market. If the country rapidly expands the production of ST25 rice with a safe cultivation process, this will be the golden time for Vietnam to advertise the Vietnamese rice brand.
Entering August, the export prices of rice in Thailand and India both increased. However, Vietnam is the country seeing bright colors in rice exports. According to rice experts, with increasing rice export volume and value, Vietnam will pass Thailand to become the world’s largest rice exporter this year. The current matter is to build and solidify the Vietnamese rice brand in the market.
The market of countries in the ASEAN currently is the fourth largest industrial trade partner of Vietnam after China, the US, and South Korea. Despite many incentives, enterprises have not focused on exploiting this market to promote exports.
