According to General Department of Customs, in May 2024, the whole country exported 856.000 tonnes of rice, down 14.6% compared to the previous month. In total, by the end of May, the whole country exported 4.03 million tonnes, up 11.2% and total turnover reached 2.56 billion USD, up 33.6% compared to the same period last year.
In terms of markets, Vietnam's rice is mainly exported to the ASEAN market with 2.96 million tonnes, accounting for 73% of the country's total rice volume and increasing by 36% over the same period last year.
Of which, exports to the Philippines reached 1.83 million tonnes, up 19.6%; Indonesia reached 677,000 tonnes, up 83.4%; Malaysia reached 338,000 tonnes, up 82.5%.
In contrast to the high growth in ASEAN markets, rice exports to the Chinese market decreased sharply, reaching only 203,000 tonnes, down 67.8% over the same period last year.
Previously, according to statistics from Vietnam Customs, in 2023, China was Vietnam's third largest rice importer, down 1 place compared to 2022, behind the Philippines and Indonesia, accounting for about 11% of the country's total rice export volume and turnover...
However, looking back at the period of 2017 - 2022, China's rice imports from Vietnam recorded relatively large fluctuations. In 2017 alone, China imported up to 1 billion USD of rice products from Vietnam, but by 2019, import turnover only reached more than 240 million USD and recovered in the period of 2020 and 2021 but has tended to decrease in the past two years.
In recent years, China's rice import quota has not changed much. In 2023, the country's rice import quota is set at 5.32 million tonnes, of which the quota is for long-grain rice with 2.66 million tonnes and short-grain rice with 2.66 million tonnes. This figure has not changed in recent years.
For many years, China's rice imports have accounted for less than 4% of the total domestic rice production. Of which, some high-quality rice is added to consumption in premium rice segment, some popular rice is used to mix with local rice or is processed and packaged under the brand of Chinese enterprises.
In addition, China limits number of rice enterprises allowed to export to this country. Currently, China only allows 21 enterprises to export rice to this market out of a total of about 161 licensed Vietnamese rice enterprises.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn