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Tag: rice

  • Vietnam rice export back on track

    Vietnam rice export back on track

    Vietnam exported 2.3 million tons of rice worth US$1 billion in the first five months of the year, up 1.6% in volume and 1.2% in value year-on-year.

    China remained Vietnam’s largest rice importer, accounting for 47.5% of the nation’s total rice exports. More than 815,000 tons of rice costing over US$376 million went to the northern neighbor in January-April, up 16.1% and 16.2% against the same period last year respectively.

    Vietnam shipped 4.89 million tons of rice valued at US$2.1 billion in all of 2016, a respective decrease of 25.54%  and 20.57% against 2015.

    China was still Vietnam’s biggest importer of the food staple last year despite a 19.79% decline. It purchased more than 1.8 million tons of rice from Vietnam last year, 36.97% of Vietnam’s total rice shipments.

    The domestic rice price has improved by VND200-300 a kilo, supported by the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding to export one million of rice a year to Bangladesh until 2022. The South Asian country will import 300,000 tons at first.

    In addition, the National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines has announced to buy 250,000 tons of rice from Vietnam in June.

    Nguyen Thanh Tho, a rice trader at Ba Dac wholesale market in Tien Giang Province, told the Daily that IR 50404 rice is sold at VND4,350-4,400 a kilo, an increase of VND200-300, helped by the Bangladesh rice deal.

    Besides, IR 50404 material rice is purchased at VND6,350-6,450 a kilo in the Mekong Delta, up VND200.

    Major importing markets, especially Bangladesh and the Philippines, have helped buoy the price. The Free On Board (FOB) price of 5%-broken white rice from Vietnam is US$370-380 a ton, up US$5-10 compared to a week ago.

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  • Vietnam rice exporters face challenges

    Vietnam rice exporters face challenges

    The rice price is forecast to continue soaring in near future, buoyed by the higher demand for rice of some countries, but Vietnam is having difficulty boosting rice shipments, heard a seminar in Hanoi last week.

    A study conducted by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development shows there are nine million rice farming households nationwide, but around 300,000 of them account for the bulk of Vietnam’s rice export volume.

    Meanwhile, the nation has over 300,000 rice milling facilities, but a majority of them are small. But in Thailand, there are a mere 1,000 rice milling plants. Besides, Vietnam has around 100 rice exporters, but a mere 22 of them focus on China, one of Vietnam’s largest rice buyers.

    Industry experts said these two hindrances had led to the global market share of Vietnamese rice shrinking. Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show the country’s rice shipments last year dropped 27% in volume and 23% in value against 2015.

    Vietnam has seen gradual declines in rice exports to China, European Union, Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Despite the decrease in rice exports, local enterprises have shown little or no interest in the domestic market.

    Vietnamese rice producers have not been able to develop premium rice brands, according to Sergio René Araujo Enciso, an economist from the Trade and Markets Division under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

    Key importers of Vietnamese rice products have adopted food security policies. China, for instance, is buying rice from different countries, said Pham Kim Dung, the study’s lead researcher.

    The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund forecast that rice prices might inch up in the short term as some countries are stocking up on rice, such as Malaysia with 950,000 tons and Bangladesh with 600,000 tons.

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  • Philippines likely to import more rice from Vietnam

    Philippines likely to import more rice from Vietnam

    The Philippines is likely to import an additional 250,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam and Thailand. The Philippines government on Tuesday said the country would import more rice to boost its stocks ahead of the lean harvest season.

    The National Food Authority Council did not specify the quantity, but demand from the Philippines, one of the world’s largest rice importers, could underpin prices in Thailand and Vietnam — its main suppliers and major exporters.

    The National Food Authority had been seeking the council’s approval to import 250,000 tonnes under government-to-government schemes with Vietnam and Thailand. The committee that decides on the quantity to be imported will meet on Thursday.

    The NFA also announced it would shift from government-to-government importation to government-to-private importation to make the bidding more competitive, transparent and less corrupt.

    Rice inventory in the Philippines is running low, with government stockpiles shrinking to the least in more than three years in April, just enough to cover 10 days of the national requirement.

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  • Demand from China, Africa supports Vietnamese rice prices at harvest end

    Demand from China, Africa supports Vietnamese rice prices at harvest end

    Vietnamese rice is being offered at around $35-$40 a ton below Thai grain. China and several African countries have returned to Vietnam seeking fragrant and white rice, and the demand has helped stabilize export prices even though supply has risen at the end of a major harvest, traders said on Friday.

    They also said Vietnamese rice being offered for cheaper prices than Thai and Indian rice has also attracted buyers, mostly from Africa. Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, behind India and Thailand.

    Farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s food basket, have finished harvesting the winter-spring crop, the biggest of the country’s three annual crops. Paddy output eased 2 percent from last year to an estimated 9.8 million tons, based on government statistics. Most of the grain from this crop is being exported.

    Reuters cited Vietnamese traders’ quotations for five percent broken rice showing prices rose this week to $355-$360 a ton, free on board (FOB) basis, on more active trade.

    At $360 a ton, the price is at its highest since August 31, 2016.

    But traders at foreign firms and a dealer at a state-run export company in Ho Chi Minh City told VnExpress International that exporters are looking to sell the grade at around $355 a ton, while bids stood at $350-$352 a ton, similar to last week.

    “Rice exports to China are going well,” the dealer said. “Africa is also coming back with inquiries for the 5-percent and the 15 percent broken varieties, as well as fragrant rice.”

    He added that ample supplies are now available to state-owned export firms that have better access to bank loans, while private exporters are struggling to build stock due to weaker finances.

    Vietnamese prices are below those offered by Thailand, where the 5-percent broken rice rose this week to $387-$392 a ton, FOB basis, from $380-$390 last week and $360-$375 at the end of April due to loading demand during a slow off-season harvest, Reuters cited Thai traders in Bangkok as saying.

    Traders noted China, the biggest buyer of Vietnamese rice, has been taking more of the grain in the past month.

    China imported 288,000 tons of rice from Vietnam in April, way above the monthly average of 176,000 tons in the first quarter, Vietnam Customs data showed.

    That brought Vietnam’s total export volume to China in the January-April period to 815,000 tons, a rise of 16 percent from a year ago, based on data from the Finance Ministry-run customs agency.

    Earlier this year, China approved 22 Vietnamese rice export firms as official suppliers, but is also trying to limit rice purchases across the land border with Vietnam.

    China is projected to import 5 million tons of rice this year, up 8.7 percent from 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

    Vietnam is forecast to export 5.6 million tons in 2017, up 10 percent from last year, the USDA said in a report on Wednesday.

    The USDA also forecasts both India and Thailand will export around double that amount this year.

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  • Appetite in Europe, Philippines may boost Vietnam’s 2017 rice exports

    Appetite in Europe, Philippines may boost Vietnam’s 2017 rice exports

    Vietnam’s global rice export ranking this year is expected to remain unchanged, trailing behind Thailand and India. Preferential import taxes in Eastern European countries and an extended rice supply agreement with the Philippines may help boost Vietnam’s rice exports this year by around 9 percent to 6 million tons, a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache said.

    The 2017 forecast, up from the 5.5 million tons shipped last year, leaves Vietnam’s global rice export ranking unchanged in third place, trailing Thailand and India, according to USDA projections.

    Vietnam can benefit from preferential import duties in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan after the Vietnam-Eurasia Economic Union Free Trade Agreement came into effect in October 2016, the USDA attache said in a report released on Tuesday.

    It also cited a rice trade agreement renewed in January, under which Vietnam can supply up to 1.5 million tons annually to the Philippines from 2017-2018.

    Rice exports to China, the biggest buyer of Vietnamese rice, are also expected to stay strong, now that China has approved 22 Vietnamese export firms, the report said.

    In a separate report released on Wednesday, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization also forecast Vietnam’s rice exports this year to jump 11 percent from 2016 to 6.9 million tons, citing demand from the Philippines and China.

    Exports slow

    Despite a positive outlook, Vietnamese export businesses said rice sales to eastern European countries have not been made easier because countries such as Russia often require high-quality grain.

    “There may be preferential import duties, but the cost to process rice and keep it pest-free would be higher than paying the import tariffs,” a Ho Chi Minh City-based exporter told VnExpress International.

    Asked about the Philippines, he said there were mixed reports, with some saying Manila was going to buy soon, while others said the National Food Authority, the country’s logistics agency in charge of importing rice, has not finalized any purchasing plans.

    Vietnam’s first-quarter rice exports fell 17.5 percent from a year ago to 1.29 million tons, extending a decline seen since May 2016, even though demand from China, Singapore and the Ivory Coast pushed March shipments alone to 550,700 tons, the highest monthly figure in a year, Vietnam Customs data shows.

    China is projected to import 5 million tons of rice in the 2016/2017 marketing year ending June 2017, up 4 percent from the previous year, a USDA report said in January.

    China bought 1.74 million tons of Vietnamese rice in 2016, down 17.5 percent from the previous year, based on customs data. The statistics did not include an estimated 1.5 million tons sold across the land border, according to a Vietnamese industry analyst.

    Shipments to the Philippines last year plunged 65 percent from 2015 to 396,000 tons, based on customs data.

    Vietnam is projected to export around 5 million tons this year, the Vietnam Food Association has said. Last year, the Southeast Asian nation shipped 4.8 million tons, the lowest since 2008, due to rising competition and growing production in key regional buyers, as well as higher stocks in Africa.

    In 2016, rice slipped to the third-biggest earner among Vietnam’s agro-exports, after seafood and fruit.

    Thinner stocks

    With rising exports expected in 2017, Vietnam’s stocks could drop to 1 million tons at the year-end from 1.42 million tons last year, the USDA report said, adding that output and domestic consumption would remain steady.

    Vietnam’s 2017 milled rice output is projected at 28.1 million tons, 0.7 percent up from last year due to higher yields, and domestic consumption and residual would edge up 0.4 percent to a combined 22.8 million tons.

    While per capita consumption has been easing thanks to rising incomes, there is “higher use of rice in home-made animal and aquaculture-feeds, and growth in the food processing sector, especially in the beer and rice wine industries,” the report said.

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  • Indonesia turns it back on Vietnamese rice as crops at home flourish

    Indonesia turns it back on Vietnamese rice as crops at home flourish

    Indonesia’s rice imports from all destinations in 2017 are forecast to halve to 500,000 tons, based on USDA reports. Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country and a major buyer of Vietnamese rice, has not returned to Vietnam for new purchases this year, while its overall 2017 rice imports are forecast to halve to around 500,000 tons thanks to better domestic production, according to industry reports.

    Indonesia was among Vietnam’s 10 biggest rice buyers in the 2010-2016 period, with imports peaking at nearly 1.9 million tons in 2011, based on data from Vietnam’s agriculture ministry.

    But its purchases have been falling and Vietnam received no orders during the first two months of 2017, ministry data shows. Vietnam is the world’s third-biggest rice exporter after India and Thailand.

    Indonesia is forecast to import 500,000 tons of rice this year, down 50 percent from 2016, as domestic milled rice output edges up 2.6 percent to 37.15 million tons “due to increased area harvested”, a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache said in a March 30 report.

    The report said increased cropping intensity and new land will help expand the harvested area this year to 12.24 million hectares (30.25 million acres), 1.2 percent above 2016 when Indonesia experienced a weak to moderate La Nina weather phenomenon.

    Given more use of high-yielding varieties, the report forecasts Indonesia’s output next year will rise further to 37.4 million tons, leaving the country’s rice imports unchanged.

    The forecasts pose a challenge to Vietnam’s rice exports in 2017, with shipments in the first quarter already dropping 24 percent from a year ago to 1.2 million tons, a two-year low, the government has said.

    Hanoi maintains forecasts of a modest rice export volume for 2017, anticipating 5 million tons to be shipped, due in part to expected higher demand from top buyer China. Last year, Vietnam’s rice exports fell to 4.8 million tons, the lowest since 2008.

    Malaysia, another key buyer of Vietnamese rice, is forecast to import 950,000 tons of the grain this year, unchanged from 2016, said a USDA report dated March 27. Last year, the country was Vietnam’s 5th biggest rice buyer, after China, Ghana, the Philippines and Indonesia.

    The average export price of Vietnam’s 5-percent broken rice eased 2 percent in the first quarter ending March from a year ago to $344 a ton, free-on-board basis, and that on Thailand’s 5-percent broken rice also eased the same pace in the same period to $372 a ton, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said.

    Unseasonal rain in the past week has disrupted the harvest of the Mekong Delta’s winter-spring crop, and quotations edged up slightly even though buying demand remains thin, traders said. The 5 percent broken rice advanced to $355 a ton this week from $347-$350 last Thursday.

    Output of the crop, the biggest among the Delta’s three crops grown a year, is projected to drop 1.3 percent from last year to around 10 million tons of paddy, the agriculture ministry has said.

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  • Vietnamese Prime Minister orders rice revolution to raise quality of production

    Vietnamese Prime Minister orders rice revolution to raise quality of production

    Falling rice exports have prompted the government to rethink its strategy. Renovation at all levels of the government is needed to “create a revolution in quality and a new vision, accompanied by strategic planning in line with globalization, in order for Vietnamese rice to meet consumer demand in Asia and the rest of the world,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

    Vietnam, the world’s third-largest rice exporter after India and Thailand, will launch a comprehensive campaign to overhaul production in order to raise yields, efficiency and export value, according to the government.

    The Southeast Asian nation went through its first rice revolution in the late 1980s. At that time, the country still had to import rice to meet domestic demand, but 1989 marked the first year of Vietnamese rice shipments, with a total of 1.4 million tons shipped overseas thanks to rapid reforms in agricultural production.

    Rice exports peaked at 8 million tons in 2012, but have since dropped due to better production in key markets such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as rising competition from India, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.

    The Vietnam Food Association has targeted annual shipments of around 5 million tons this year, after sales fell to 4.8 million tons in 2016, the lowest since 2008.

    Despite continued investment, falling rice exports have prompted the government to rethink its strategy.

    Hanoi has classed rice as a strategic commodity to ensure food security for the country’s 93 million people, especially with typhoons, salination and floods posing a major threat.

    Phuc’s instruction came days after the government estimated Vietnam’s rice exports from January-March dropped 24 percent from a year ago to 1.2 million tons, a two-year low.

    Phuc has asked for rice fields to be merged or expanded in suitable areas, while the land damaged by salination should be switched to raising shrimp and other crops.

    He also called for updated agricultural technology to produce varieties with higher yields, while improving storage conditions and avoiding post-harvest losses.

    Modern irrigation systems and infrastructure projects to cope with climate change and rising sea levels are needed, Phuc said.

    Last month, the premier asked government officials to look into human and natural factors as Vietnam seeks to fight the problems threatening to sink the country’s Mekong Delta food basket, which supplies 90 percent of rice for export.

    The future of the delta, home to around 20 million people, is threatened by urbanization and dozens of dams, with more in the pipeline. Flooding and droughts that have led to salination, along with rising sea levels, should also be considered for the region’s development, a World Bank report said.

    The alluvial soil and sediment delivered to the coastal areas in the delta, where the Mekong River enters the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea), fell to 75 million tons in 2014 from 160 million tons in 1994, according to data from Vietnam’s National Mekong Committee.

    The WWF said that higher sea levels may inundate half of the delta by the end of the century.

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  • China set to cut into India, Vietnam rice exports in 2017

    China set to cut into India, Vietnam rice exports in 2017

    Falling demand and overseas competition are expected to bite into Vietnam’s rice exports. India and Vietnam, the world’s leading rice exporters, may see overseas sales fall below previously expected levels due to slowing demand and rising competition from China, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a recent report.

    India’s rice exports year could fall by 300,000 tons to only 10 million tons “on slower pace and stronger competition in West Africa”, the USDA said in its March report, putting it on a par with shipments expected from Thailand.

    It more than doubled its forecast for China’s rice exports this year to 500,000 tons from 225,000 tons, the report said, citing rising sales in East Asia and West Africa.

    The USDA also cut Vietnam’s rice export forecast by 3.6 percent to 5.6 million tons this year, citing “reduced trade to Southeast Asia and Africa”.

    With the lower projections, India and Thailand will share the world’s largest rice exporter title this year, followed by Vietnam and Pakistan. Last year, India was the world’s biggest rice exporter, followed by Thailand.

    Vietnam’s rice exports in the first two months of this year fell 23.5 percent from the same period in 2016 to 738,000 tons, based on data from Vietnam Customs released this week.

    Rice exports in the two-month month period brought in $314 million, 24.7 percent below the corresponding period in 2016, data showed.

    On a brighter note, Mexico has given the green light for 150,000 tons of rice to be imported at a zero percent tariff, starting from March 1, to meet domestic demand and diversify its supply sources, a move that would cut the market share currently held by the U.S. and open the door to Vietnamese rice.

    “The United States is expected to remain the dominant supplier (for Mexico), but recent history suggests that other suppliers will likely gain additional sales,” the USDA said.

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  • Vietnam wants China to permit more rice exporters

    Vietnam wants China to permit more rice exporters

    Many Vietnamese rice exporters are facing difficulties after China authorised only 22 Vietnamese businesses to export rice into the country.

    The permission was announced by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), which allowed 22 firms to export rice and rice products from January 1, counting from the date of departure from the Vietnamese border. Any businesses not listed by AQSIQ were banned from exporting to the Chinese market from January 1.

    This decision has affected many Vietnamese firms which were not in the list but had already signed rice contracts before the date.

    One such company is Can Tho Food Company, which is not allowed to export rice to China, although it had signed a contract to export 18,000 tonnes of rice to China at the end of last year.

    Nguyen Van Dung, the company’s deputy director, said the delivery would have been completed by early February, but following the new order, it was no longer permitted to export and hence was suffering huge losses.

    “Our contract was canceled cancelled and we have to compensate some VND300 billion for our partner. In addition, we have to bear further costs,” Dung told Vietnam Television.

    Dung said rice was preserved in the store for quite a long time so the company had to re-process 10,000 tonnes of rice, which raised the cost by VND200-300 per kg.

    “I hope the State and relevant sectors create conditions for my company to sell rice, helping us to overcome difficulties. If it is not solved soon, my company will go bankrupt,” Dung said.

    Tran Thanh Nam, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development (MARD), said the ministry would soon contact China authorities, asking them to send an expert delegation to Viet Nam to assess more businesses which could be eligible for exporting rice to China.

    China’s permission to 22 Vietnamese rice exporters was given after a group of Chinese experts traveled travelled to Viet Nam to inspect 31 enterprises that had previously applied to the local ministry for export rights to China last year.

    According to MARD, China tops the list of Viet Nam’s rice export with 35.4 per cent of market share in the first three quarters of 2016.

    Total rice export turnover to the Chinese market touched 1.35 million tonnes, amounting to $613.4 million in 2016, down 23 per cent in terms of quantity and 13.9 per cent in terms of value in comparison with the same period in 2015.

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  • Heavy rain damages rice crops in southern Vietnam

    Heavy rain damages rice crops in southern Vietnam

    Mekong Delta provinces, which just recovered from a historic drought a year ago, is bracing for more unfavorable weather. Vietnamese farmers in the Mekong Delta are seeing their rice crops being damaged after heavy downpours hit the region in recent days.

    Nguyen Van Cung from Can Tho City said that his family is trying to dig ditches to save nearly 1,000 hectares (247 acres) of rice submerged under water.

    “We can’t harvest now because the crops are not ready,” he said.

    Latest statistics showed that more than 7,000 hectares of rice in the two Mekong Delta provinces of Ca Mau anh Hau Giang have been ravaged by rain. Many shrimp farms are also threatened by flooding.

    They said the Mekong Delta should expect to see more unusual weather patterns, with more rain likely coming until the end of February.Experts said the heavy rains were caused by the weather phenomenon La Nina, which came after the devastating El Nino last year.

    Last year, a historic drought and saltwater intrusion damaged more than 400,000 hectares of crops and resulted in severe water shortages for 1.5 million people.

    The region, Vietnam’s main rice and fruit grower, is among those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, various studies have suggested.

  • Indonesia`s Rice Production Experiences Surplus after 9 Years

    Indonesia`s Rice Production Experiences Surplus after 9 Years

    Agriculture Minister, Andi Amran Sulaiman, claims that Indonesia has experienced a rice production surplus in 2016 after nine years past. “After nine years, 2016 was the moment when Central Java, East Java, and West Java, sent rice supplies to Kalimantan,” he said on Thursday, February 2, 2017.

    Minister Amran explained that rice supply warehouses in Central Java and West Java are currently in full-stock. “Warehouses in Central Java and West Java are full. The supplies keep increasing while the warehouses are full, last year it was empty. This is great progress,” he said.

    Other than rice supplies, according to Amran, garlic prices have also declined due to over stock. Therefore, the government plans to export garlic. “We’ll prepare the export earlier.”

    Based on the report from farmer’s association dubbed Kelompok Kontak Tani Nelayan Andalan, prices of rice in seven districts are below Rp3,700 per kilogram. “We had a coordination meeting until late at night, we’ll move quicker for the farmers. We won’t let them experience a loss,” the Minister said.

    In May, the Agriculture Ministry will hold a National Week (Penas) for Farmers and Fishermen in Aceh for six days; on May 6-11, 2017. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will inaugurate the event and it will be participated by 35,000 participants consisting of farmers, researchers, instructors representatives, and other stakeholders.

    A number of events will enliven the National Week which opens the opportunity to develop partnerships and open an agricultural product trade among ASEAN farmers.

  • Vietnam rice exports set to face another tough year

    Vietnam rice exports set to face another tough year

    Despite facing difficulties, Việt Nam will strive to achieve rice exports of more than 5 million tonnes this year, the Việt Nam Food Association has said.

    Speaking at a meeting to review the VFA’s performance last year in HCM City on Monday, its secretary, Huỳnh Minh Huệ, said last year only 4.89 million tonnes were exported for $2.12 billion, a 25.5 per cent fall in volume and 20.57 per cent decline in value.

    There was excessive supply in the global market last year, and there has been a recent trend of major importing countries increasing domestic production to reduce imports, he said.

    Việt Nam’s rice exports are likely to face another difficult year as supply outstrips demand and global competition intensifies, he said.

    He quoted the US Department of Agriculture as saying global rice output in 2016/17 is estimated to increase by 1.6 per cent from last year to 480 million tonnes due to an expansion in the area under rice in many countries including Australia, Myanmar, Brazil, India, Indonesia, North Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and the US, he said.

    Global exports are expected to rise by one million tonnes or 2.6 per cent to 40.6 million tonnes, he said.

    Stockpiles have been increasing for the last three years and are expected to reach the highest levels since 2001/02 crop, he said.

    Huỳnh Thế Năng, VFA chairman, said despite the hurdles, rice businesses would strive to export higher volumes than last year to ensure farmers can sell off as much of their outputs as possible.

    In the long term the domestic rice sector targets exports of high-value rice to affluent markets, he said.

    He said the Plant Protection Department and other relevant agencies should take measures to improve the hygiene and food safety of Vietnamese rice to enable more exports to choosy markets.

    The association said rice exporters should meet hygiene and food safety standards and strengthen linkages with farmers to ensure a steady source of the grain to meet market demand.

    Huệ called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to build an international standard laboratory in Cần Thơ to help exporters check their rice quality, especially look for plant protection chemical residues, instead of sending to other countries for analysis as is done now.

    Năng said authorities in rice growing localities need to do more to instruct farmers in producing rice meeting safety standards, encourage them to use more certified rice seedlings and improve technical and financial support systems.

    Đỗ Hà Nam, chairman and general director of Intimex Group Joint Stock Company — one of the country’s 10 largest rice exporters — said while exports of other kinds were down, exports of Japonica and sticky rice went up by 136.95 per cent and 96.59 per cent.

    “But farmers have since rushed to grow more sticky rice, which [poses a] risk.”

    He said the Government should work with China to facilitate exports of Vietnamese rice to that country.

    “We face severe competition in terms of price from Pakistan and India.

    “There may be difficulties but if we choose to invest in varieties like fragrant rice and sticky rice, there will be opportunities.”

    Lê Thanh Tùng of the Crop Production Department said Việt Nam has the potential to boost exports of sticky, fragrant, Japonica and high-quality rice varieties.

    Besides improving quality, Vietnamese firms should also focus on building brands, he said.

    Rice stockpile

    The association on Monday called on the Government to approve a programme to stockpile rice temporarily from the winter-spring crop to ensure farmers do not lose.

    Tùng said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, based on rice production and consumption in February and March, would make specific recommendations for it.

    The quality in the 2016/17 winter-spring crop would be better than last year’s, he added.

  • DHL eCommerce offers e-commerce expertise and logistics services to help Thai rice farmers

    DHL eCommerce offers e-commerce expertise and logistics services to help Thai rice farmers

    DHL eCommerce, a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has collaborated with the Ministry of Commerce in Thailand to offer e-commerce expertise and logistics services free of charge for a period of four months to help Thai farmers grow their business and reap the benefits from selling on e-commerce platforms. This follows recent challenging market conditions which have seen an oversupply of rice and strong export competition.

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    Partnering with the Thailand Ministry of Commerce’s Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), DHL eCommerce works with farmer co-ops across Thailand to help set up and enable an easy and streamlined process to manage their online inventory and ship to consumers domestically. Experts from DHL eCommerce advise and support farmers by integrating their sales processes with e-commerce portals on BentoWeb, a local e-commerce services provider which has been pre-integrated with the DHL eCommerce Customer Web Portal. Once on BentoWeb, farmers will be able to easily arrange for deliveries and shipments quickly at a click of a button, allowing rice goods to be picked and dispatched to end consumers located in Thailand.

    The collaboration combines the global logistics experience of DHL with the in-depth local market knowledge from DHL eCommerce Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce Thailand and BentoWeb, allowing farmers to benefit from solutions that are tailored to their specific needs. The Ministry of Commerce will work on promoting and registering farmers on www.thaitrade.com/rice while BentoWeb will enable the online order process and inventory management for the farmers. DHL eCommerce will pick up the products from the farms and deliver them free of charge to the consumers directly.

    “We are extremely honored to have this opportunity to use our e-commerce expertise and logistics services to make a positive impact on the farmers’ businesses and their livelihoods. As an organization operating in Thailand, providing both domestic as well as international delivery services to the local businesses, we are committed to the Thailand market. Wherever and whenever we can contribute to the local communities, we will do our utmost best to support,” said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, Managing Director, DHL eCommerce Thailand.

    Thailand is one of the world’s leading rice exporters with an expected output of 25 million tonnes of rice expected in the 2016/17 production year. “The Ministry of Commerce has been rolling out a series of programs aimed at helping the local farmers and one such initiative is this collaboration with DHL eCommerce Thailand to help farmers sell their produce online. We have been working together in the past three weeks to onboard these farmers onto the e-commerce platform so that domestic consumers can place orders and have DHL eCommerce deliver to their doorsteps. We are extremely heartened that an organization such as DHL eCommerce is putting their foot forward to help the local communities,” said Mrs Apiradi Tantraporn, Minister of Commerce, the Royal Thai Government.

    For farmer co-ops like Ban Um-sang Rice Community, they have managed to take the matter of the rice supply glut in their stride and tap onto the opportunities of e-commerce thanks to DHL eCommerce. Ban Um-sang Rice Community explained, “The internet has opened up more possibilities for us farmers to do business. We can communicate and connect with customers directly, previously impossible with more traditional methods. We don’t have to worry about organizing our deliveries too, as they are taken care of by experienced logistics specialists. By giving us more options, e-commerce makes us less affected by existing market forces and gives us the freedom to improve our sales in new ways.”

    In addition to DHL eCommerce’s international delivery capabilities, it has since the beginning of this year been offering domestic delivery services in the Thai market. Identifying the country as one of the fast-growing e-commerce markets, DHL eCommerce established end-to-end domestic and international delivery solutions for Thai e-commerce merchants. The company has a 3,000 sqm central distribution center in Bangkok and a network of over 40 depots located throughout the country for nation-wide logistics connectivity. By 2017, DHL eCommerce aims to more than double the number of depots and enhance its fleet with two-wheel vehicles that can surmount Thailand’s complex last-mile delivery challenges.

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  • China authorises 22 Vietnamese rice exporters

    China authorises 22 Vietnamese rice exporters

    China has authorised 22 Vietnamese businesses to export rice into its market, Việt Nam’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) announced.

    China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has given only 22 firms permission to start exporting rice and rice products starting January 1, counting from the date of departure from the Vietnamese border.

    Any businesses not listed by AQSIQ will be banned from exporting to the Chinese market from January 1, the ministry’s Plant Protection Department (PPD), which received the related documents from AQSIQ on December 23, said.

    The PPD has notified the Vietnam Food Association, sterilisation companies for exported rice and the 22 listed businesses, and published the list online at www.ppd.gov.vn

    The PPD has ordered the 22 companies to comply strictly with the regulations on food safety and plant quarantine set by both Việt Nam and China. It has also urged sterilisation companies authorised by the AQSIQ to work with rice exporters to maintain the quality of the rice and ensure there are no storage pests.

    The AQSIQ has issued the list after carefully considering numerous Vietnamese businesses that had applied for permission to export. A group of Chinese experts had travelled to Việt Nam to inspect 31 enterprises that had previously applied to the local ministry for export rights to China.

    Among the several countries that import Vietnamese rice, China tops the list with 35.4 per cent of market share in the first three quarters of 2016, according to MARD.

    The total rice export turnover into the Chinese market touched 1.35 million tonnes amounting to $613.4 million, down 23 per cent in terms of quantity and 13.9 per cent in terms of value as compared to the same period in 2015.

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  • Tech boost for Asia’s rice sector

    Tech boost for Asia’s rice sector

    A new initiative to provide rice breeders across the Asia Pacific region with advanced technologies is expected to help improve crop yields, sustainability and profitability in the vital agricultural sector.

    ‘Rice Action Agenda,’ introduced by the The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the 16-member countries of the Council for Partnership on Rice Research in Asia, calls on parties to share germplasm, collaborate on investments, and exchange rice-breeding techniques.

    Bruce Tolentino, deputy director-general of the Philippine-based IRRI, says the new agenda is “crucial to developing the rice sectors” of the participating countries. He says the new agenda was a response to concerns about diminishing rice stocks in India and Thailand — the two top global exporters.

    IRRI noted in February that the combined rice stocks of India and Thailand were set to decline by almost three-quarters by the third quarter of 2016 as compared to 2013 numbers, mostly due to environmental reasons such as droughts.

    “Fears of another rice crisis early this year was the impetus for the Rice Action Agenda,” Tolentino said.

    Under a 10-point action plan the agenda will introduce superior, higher yield rice varieties; upgrade rice research and breeding pipelines; increase research into global rice varieties; invest in rice education and increase the sustainability of rice cultivation systems.

    The plan also calls for reducing crop losses using mechanised technologies; reforming policies to increase production efficiency; increasing investments in agricultural infrastructure; strengthening food security for consumers and working to implement the ASEAN Rice Breeding Initiative.

    IRRI proposes that participants take advantage of three programmes — the CGIAR Research Programme on Rice, the Sustainable Rice Platform, and the ASEAN+3 Rice Genetics and Breeding Platform. The last includes a suite of tools for fast-tracking germplasm development, including genotyping and molecular markers, high-throughput phenotyping, and breeding informatics.

    Tolentino notes that participating countries are expected to carry out the new Rice Action Agenda using internal funding sources. “The goal is for each of the member countries to adopt the recommendations into each of their own national rice-sector strategies and fund implementation from their own fiscal budgets.”

    Rajeev Varshney, a geneticist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India, tells SciDev.Net that rice is the “most important crop for food as well as nutrition security in Asian countries.”

    According to Varshney, the agenda is a “great opportunity to bring the entire value chain of actors together.” By combining the various programmes proposed in the plan, participants should be able to “make the rice sector stronger.”