No shortage of rice, says ministry

Rice exports will total 6 million tonnes this year while domestic food security is still ensured, deputy minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien told reporters here on Tuesday.

About 4.1 million tonnes has already been shipped, earning US$2 billion, a decline of 2.5 per cent in volume from the same period last year but an increase of 3.6 per cent in value, according to ministry figures.

Prices have risen on rumours that China might be facing a shortage and was rushing to boost imports from Viet Nam – including unofficial trades at border gates.

Prices have risen by VND500-1,000 (US$0.026-0.053) to around VND4,200/kg for low-quality rice, VND4,800/kg for medium-quality rice, and VND5,500/kg for high-quality rice.

These prices were unlikely to last long, Bien said, as distributors such as Saigon Co.op Mart and the Southern Food Corporation, among others, have sufficient rice reserves to meet demand.

The Viet Nam Food Association has guided these companies to stockpile to help stabilise the market and ensure national food security, said association chairman Truong Thanh Phong.

The Northern Food Corporation has reserved over 300,000 tonnes of rice and the Southern Food Corporation over 600,000 tonnes, while smaller distributors held stockpiles of 400,000 tonnes, Phong said.

While the winter-spring crop totalled 18 million tonnes, the summer-autumn crop would likely bring in about 8.25 million tonnes, according to the director of the cultivation department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Tri Ngoc.

He predicted next season’s winter-spring crop would total an additional 13 million.

According to unofficial sources, China had imported 600,000 tonnes of rice from Viet Nam in the period from April to July. A certain amount of Vietnamese rice was exported to China via unofficial trade at border gates, and the ministry did not have an official figure to represent this trade, Bien admitted, offering the reassurance that such trades were well within the control of the ministry’s market watch group.

There has been no spike in the official export volume between the two nations, he added.

“Viet Nam does not have any policy to discriminate against or restrict certain countries from importing our rice,” Bien said. “If China has demand, we will still export, and the unofficial trade between the two countries is still undertaken in accordance with current regulations.” — VNS

Tags: Vietnam rice