Agricultural product prices increased
At this time, in fields in the Mekong Delta region, farmers are busy harvesting 2024 Winter-Spring rice crop. In fields linking production with enterprises and cooperatives, joy of farmers are doubled when enterprises buy all kinds of rice, rice productivity is high and the rice is sold at a stable price.
In Soc Trang, Mr. Tran Van Chuyen (My Xuyen district) has just finished harvesting 1 hectare of RVT rice variety, selling price 8,400 VND/kg. “In this year's Winter-Spring rice crop, the harvest yield reached nearly 7 tons/ha. This case minus all costs, the profit is about 30 million VND, an increase of 5 million VND compared to the previous year", Mr. Chuyen said.
Looking at the 2024 Winter-Spring rice crop market, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Tam, President of Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1), said that in this year's Winter-Spring crop, farmers will not only get a good harvest but also good prices. With current rice prices, farmers profit about 60% according to production cost announced by the Financial Association of about 4,000 VND/kg.
With coffee products, after a series of continuous increases, coffee prices are at an all-time high when exceeding a mark of 90,000 VND/kg. On March 19, green coffee was traded around 93,000 - 94,000 VND/kg, double the price over the same period last year.
Mr. Bach Quang Hong (Buon Me Thuot, Dak Lak), specializing in growing high-quality coffee, said that coffee harvest has ended and prices continue to break historical peaks. This is a farmer's dream price. Even though they had sold out of goods before, farmers like him were excited because they won a big price.
According to Mr. Hong's calculations, 1 hectare of clean coffee yields about 4 tonnes of green coffee. Farmers selling at 85,000 VND/kg will earn about 340 million VND. Minus costs, profit is about 220 million VND/ha. If keeping coffee up to this point and sell it for over 90,000 VND/kg, farmers will win big.
Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said that average export coffee price in the first 2 months of 2024 has increased by up to 1,000 USD tonnes/ha compared to the first 2 months of 2023. Growth of all 3 criteria of quantity and price and average value of exported coffee products is helping coffee farmers, especially coffee capital in the Central Highlands, enjoy great joy.
As for pepper industry, pepper prices also set a new record when they soared to 93,000 - 95,000 VND/kg, with many gardeners even selling for 100,000 VND/kg.
According to pepper growers, pepper prices are the highest in the past 5 years. Therefore, farmers' income also increased sharply. A 1 hectare of pepper cultivation after deducting costs can yield a profit of over 350 million VND.
Many export orders
Agricultural products are the "bright picture" in overall export activities in the first months of the year when a series of products continuously receive many export orders.
Statistics from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, compared to the same period last year, in the first 2 months of this year, export prices of many Vietnamese agricultural products increased sharply over the same period. Accordingly, average price of rice exports in the first 2 months of the year reached 699 USD/tonne, an increase of 32.2%; coffee 3,153 USD/tonne, up 44.7%; pepper 4,041 USD/tonne, up 28.7%...
Mr. Thai Nhu Hiep, Vice President of Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, said that importers around the world are looking to Vietnam to buy coffee. In the past year, enterprises in Vietnam exported almost all of their inventory. Domestic enterprises continuously receive delegations from many parts of the world to learn about and buy Vietnamese coffee because Vietnamese coffee is becoming the top choice in the Robusta segment.
More information about coffee export market in early 2024, Director of Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company - Nguyen Huy Hung shared that at the end of 2023, the company signed contracts to export coffee to new markets. Currently, coffee export orders are full until the end of the first quarter of 2024.
With positive signals from export market, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Group, expects prices of many agricultural products to continue to increase in the first months of the year and rebalance in middle of the year. As for durian products, in February and March, when countries such as Thailand and Malaysia ran out of supplies, Vietnamese durian continued to be sold at high prices. However, in near future, when Vietnam exports more frozen products to China, the market may enter a period of stability.
According to experts, although agricultural export market is showing many positive signs, to ensure sustainable development and establish a stable import market, enterprises need to proactively build a chain of linkages. Connect and regularly update standards from import markets to have countermeasures in building raw material sources as well as processing and packaging for export.
As for Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry will continue to do a good job forecasting supply and demand, providing information on the market situation, connecting producers with consumers and taking advantage of free trade agreements, especially new generation free trade agreements. Thereby, restructuring export market, reducing dependence on some markets, removing barriers to entering new markets; at the same time, attach importance to building the brand of Vietnamese agricultural products.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn