S Korean firm looks to import unpolished, broken rice this year

International Corp, a major South Korean rice importer, has said it wants to import rice from Viet Nam.

The corporation’s representatives announced their intention during a recent meeting with Vietnamese rice exporters where they provided a briefing on South Korea’s minimum market access (MMA) mechanism.

According to South Korea’s Association of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the country will embark on this year’s plans to import rice from May, mainly unpolished, broken and glutinous rice varieties.

Korean importers said Vietnamese exporters would possibly face tough requirements at first but they were willing to help firms overcome any barriers.

The Viet Nam Food Association said the RoK offered great potential, but was a highly demanding market, and therefore domestic businesses would find it hard to satisfy its demands.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese rice remained a favourite product in African countries for domestic demand and export to third countries in the Africa, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnamese rice has a good reputation in those countries due to its high quality, and therefore, local rice exporters should research those markets carefully to get contracts with good prices.

Nguyen Viet Chien, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Information and Statistics Centre, said rice gained the largest export value in the first four months of this year.

Rice exports had a year-on-year increase of 30 per cent in volume to 2.8 million tonnes and 22.7 per cent in value to $1.4 billion.

The largest export markets for rice were Indonesia and Cuba.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development expects the total export volume of rice to reach about 7 million tonnes this year. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam rice, Vietnam rice exports, Vietnam rice exports 2011