According to preliminary statistics from General Department of Customs, in the first 8 months of 2024, Vietnam spent more than 1 billion USD to import about 3.64 million tonnes of wheat from many countries around the world.
Compared to the same period last year, wheat imports increased sharply by 18.3% in volume but decreased by 6.7% in value. The reason is that average import price of wheat in the past 8 months has decreased sharply by 21.2% compared to the same period in 2023.
Regarding import market, by the end of July 2024, Brazil, Australia, Ukraine, the US and Canada are the largest wheat suppliers to Vietnam. Of which, Vietnam imported 1.17 million tonnes of wheat from Brazil, worth more than 293 million USD. Compared to the same period in 2023, amount of imported wheat increased sharply by 348.9%, the value increased by nearly 205.9%.
Vietnam also spent 227.5 million USD to import 737,100 tonnes of wheat from Australia. However, imported wheat from this market decreased sharply by 65.3% in volume and 69.1% in value compared to the same period last year.
Notably, amount of wheat from Ukraine pouring into Vietnamese market increased dramatically. In just 7 months of 2024, wheat imports from this country reached 612,800 tonnes, worth up to 159.4 million USD. Compared to the same period last year, amount of wheat imported from Ukraine increased by more than 2,411% and value also increased by nearly 1,862%.
Accordingly, market share of Ukrainian wheat increased from a modest 0.8% in total import turnover in 7 months of 2023 to 16.7% in the same period this year. Ukraine also surpassed the US and Canada to become the third largest supplier of wheat to Vietnam.
Ukraine is currently a major wheat and corn grower in the world. Before the conflict in 2022, Ukraine exported about 6 million tons of grain per month through ports on Black Sea.
According to Livestock Association, wheat is the main grain used in the production of mixed animal feed. This product not only serves domestic consumption but also serves an increasing export demand. However, because Vietnam is almost unable to grow wheat, supply is completely dependent on imports. According to experts, because price of imported wheat this year has plummeted (down nearly 22% compared to the same period last year), businesses are taking advantage of the low prices (especially from Ukraine) to increase amount of imported goods.
Currently, global wheat market is very large, with an output of about 770 million tonnes per year, with a value of over 200 billion USD. In the world, the main wheat exporting countries include Russia, the US, Canada, Ukraine…Vietnam is currently one of the 10 largest wheat importing countries in the world.
Previously, in 2023, Vietnam spent up to 1.9 billion USD to import about 5.5 million tonnes of wheat. The reason is increased demand for wheat domestically, especially in animal feed and food processing industries.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn