Vietnam expands rice export market

On the afternoon of February 22, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Industry and Trade met to discuss expanding rice export markets in 2016.

Attending the meeting were Vietnamese trade counselors in countries and territories with export enterprises and associations of Vietnamese food enterprises.

In 2015, Vietnam exported nearly 6.6 million tons of rice, worth more than 2.8 billion USD, up 4% in quantity and down 4.5% in export value compared to 2014.

According to forecasts, Vietnam's rice exports in 2016 will be unpredictable due to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon, saltwater intrusion, and competition from countries such as Thailand, India, Pakistan, etc.

Rice is one of Vietnam's main agricultural export products.

Therefore, Vietnam's main export market this year is still China. Vietnam's rice exported to China accounts for 54% of this market share.

Vietnam's rice exports to the Chinese market in large quantities will be risky. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises will expand to new markets such as Europe, the US, Japan and Korea... However, these markets use high-quality rice, while Vietnam only exports about 27% of high-quality rice and Vietnamese rice has no brand, trade promotion is still limited...

Therefore, improving the quality of rice from seeds, building brands, promoting trade, supporting capital to invest in large-scale fields... are very important factors.

Mr. Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that in trade promotion support activities, businesses need guidance from State agencies on the market, especially from the Food Association to support businesses in promoting and developing the market with appropriate models and forms.

“This is also a requirement for the Ministry of Industry and Trade in innovating trade promotion methods for specific agricultural products and rice, suitable for each market, such as China, which is different from the European market,” the Deputy Minister emphasized./.

According to VOV