VietNamNet Bridge – The predictions about the world’s quiet rice market in second half of 2012 did not come true. Consignments of rice exports have been continually leaving Vietnam’s ports for other countries in recent days.
VietNamNet Bridge – The predictions about the world’s quiet rice market in second half of 2012 did not come true. Consignments of rice exports have been continually leaving Vietnam’s ports for other countries in recent days.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has sent a good message: Vietnam’s rice exports have been increasing rapidly over the last few years, raising the hope that Vietnam’s rice exports may reach the record high of 7.7 million tons in 2012.
Analysts have also commented that it is now the “golden time” for Vietnam to boost exports, when the world’s demand increases rapidly. Rice export companies have geared up to boost the rice exports in the last months of the year in the context of the world’s fluctuating price market.
Sprint race begins
The Vietnam Food Association (VFA), which has considered the signed contracts and the possible deliveries, has come to a conclusion that the record export volume of 7.7 million tons in 2012 is within reach.
If this happens, this would be the highest rice export volume so far, which would put Vietnam on the first position among the biggest rice exporters in the world. The first position was held by Thailand in the last many years.
In November 2012, Vietnam expects to export 646,000 tons, worth 287.7 million dollars, which is higher by 50,000 tons than initially planned.
As such, in the first 10 months of the year, Vietnam’s rice export reached 6.5 million tons, reaping 2.87 billion dollars.
Also according to VFA, Vietnam’s rice exports increased by 2.7 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year in terms of quantity, but decreased by 5.85 percent in value. Asian countries, which consumed 67.5 percent of the exports, African countries 24.7 percent and America 4.7 at percent remained the biggest Vietnamese rice consumers.
The higher export volume but lower export turnover has become a hot topic of discussions on business forums. Some experts have violently criticized the Vietnamese policies which cannot ensure the benefits of Vietnamese farmers, saying that this is a shame of the country.
There have been some changes with the key export markets of Vietnam. China has unexpectedly emerged as the biggest rice importer which has bought 1.7 million tons of rice so far this year. This does not include the 190,000 tons exported to Hong Kong.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia still keep buying rice from Vietnam, though Vietnamese exporters were warned before that the importers may stop buying rice from Vietnam once their domestic output is high enough to satisfy the domestic demand.
Since the orders come continually in the last months of the year (Indonesia alone ordered 300,000 tons), Vietnamese exporters have entered the sprint race to collect enough one million tons of rice for the deliveries from now until the end of December.
The golden opportunity for Vietnamese
VFA has encouraged enterprises to boost exports in the last months of the year, so that Vietnam can soon reach the goal of exporting 7.7 million tons of rice this year.
The move by VFA has surprised many exporters. Prior to that, it advised exporters to keep cautious when signing export contracts.
However, analysts believe that it is reasonable to boost exports at this moment, when the domestic supply is profuse and the Indian and Thai stocks have decreased.
MARD has reported that the total rice output in 2012 may reach 42.5 million tons, or one million tons higher than 2011, which means that the merchandise rice output may reach 7.7 million tons.
SGTT
