Viet Nam exported 5.2 million tonnes of rice in the first 10 months of this year, earning US$2.6 billion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has reported.

The figure represented an increase of 1.7 per cent in volume and 14.1 per cent in value compared with the same period in 2017.

According to MARD’s Department of Agro-Products Processing and Market Development, the rice export volume in October reached 264,000 tonnes, earning $136 million.

China continued to be the largest export market of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 24 per cent of total exports. Meanwhile, Viet Nam saw a strong increase in the export value of rice to many other export markets such as Indonesia, Iraq, the Philippines and Malaysia.

In the first 10 months, white rice still accounted for the largest segment at 58 per cent in volume and 55 per cent in value, followed by jasmine rice accounting for 24 per cent in volume and 28 per cent in value and sticky rice, 13 per cent in volume and 12 per cent in value.

The structure for kinds of rice exported saw positive changes with a gradual increase of fragrant rice, sticky rice, and white rice of medium and high quality, while the volume of white rice with low quality reduced, accounting for about 2 per cent of total rice exports.

The largest export market for jasmine rice was China, accounting for 25 per cent of total rice exports. Ghana was the second largest market with 21 per cent of the total. China was still the largest export market of Vietnamese sticky rice, accounting for 80 per cent of the total glutinous rice export.

According to MARD, domestic rice prices will continue to increase as enterprises buy more to process rice for export orders signed in October and rice export contracts can be won by year end.

The average rice export value in the first nine months was $503 per tonne, up 13.7 per cent over the same period last year. The jasmine rice export price hit the highest level at $575 per tonne, followed by Japonica rice at $526 per tonne.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam’s five-per cent broken rice had a price at $410 per tonne in the first half of October, higher than Indian rice at $372 per tonne and the similar rate at $411 per tonne for Thai rice. — VNS