According to preliminary statistics from General Department of Customs, in the first 8 months of 2024, Vietnam spent 843 million USD to import rice of all kinds, a sharp increase of 43.6% compared to the same period in 2023. With current rate of rice import by enterprises, in 2024, the import turnover of this item is forecast to reach or exceed the 1 billion USD mark.
In 2023, Vietnam also spent 860 million USD to import rice from other countries. Mainly imported from Cambodia and India... According to a rice production and export enterprise, amount of rice imported to Vietnam is mainly in low segment such as 25% broken rice and 100% broken rice. These types of rice are imported to serve production and processing of rice products.
Regarding reason for sharp increase in rice imports, this enterprise said that from middle of last year until now, Vietnam's rice export prices have increased and remained high. At some points, Vietnam's rice prices have far exceeded those of its competitors, Thailand and Pakistan. Therefore, enterprises have increased imports for production, because of price advantage.
On the contrary, in the past 8 months, Vietnam has exported about 6.15 million tons of rice, earning nearly 3.85 billion USD. Compared to the same period last year, rice exports increased by only 5.8% in volume, but value increased sharply by 21.7%. The reason is that average export price of rice increased sharply by 14.8% compared to the same period in 2023, to 625 USD/tonne.
Accordingly, rice has become agricultural product with the 5th highest export turnover in entire agricultural sector, after wood and wood products, seafood, vegetables, and coffee.
Data from Vietnam Food Association also shows that on September 11, average export price of 5% broken rice from Vietnam was at 567 USD/tonne, 2 USD/tonne higher than the same type of rice from Thailand and 32 USD/tonne higher than the same type of rice from Pakistan.
Similarly, 25% broken rice from Vietnam is priced at 533 USD/tonne, 12 USD/tonne and 30 USD/tonne higher than the same type of rice from Thailand and Pakistan, respectively. 100% broken rice is priced at 452 USD/tonne, 21 USD/tonne higher than the same type of rice from Pakistan but 1 USD/tonne lower than the same type of rice from Thailand.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn