Demand increased, rice prices soared to the highest in 7 years

The Covid-19 epidemic resulted in the sharply increasing rice prices across markets to a historical peak. Rice prices on the world market are extremely vibrant, even at one time, the price jumped to the highest level in 7 years. Vietnam has the advantage of an unprecedentedly large rice season, the farmer has a huge profit.

A report of the Department of Agriculture Processing and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), showed that in the first quarter of this year, Vietnam exported about 1.67 million tons of rice (up nearly 20%), valued at 774 million USD (up 27.8%) compared to the same period in 2019. In the first 3 months of the year, the Philippines ranked first in Vietnam's rice import market with 36.7% market share, worth 257.2 million USD (up 19.1%) compared to the same period in 2019.

In other markets, the value of Vietnam's rice exports also increased sharply: China (4.37 times), Taiwan (2.79 times)

Notably, the average export price of rice in the first 3 months of 2020 reached nearly US $ 462 / ton, up 6.3% over the same period in 2019.

By April 2014, Vietnam's rice export volume was estimated at 400,000 tons, valued at 185 million USD, bringing the total export value in the first 4 months of 2020 to 886 million USD, down 0.5% over the same period 2019.

According to the latest forecast of the US Department of Agriculture, world rice output in 2020 is estimated at 496 million tons, down 0.6% compared to 2019. World rice consumption in 2020 will reach 490 million tons, an increase of about 0,9% over the year.

Reporting to the Government on the rice production plan in 2020, MARD stated that the harvested rice output in the first 6 months of the year (including the whole winter-spring rice crop nationwide) is expected to reach 20.1 million tons, including: the northern provinces 6.9 million tons, the southern provinces 13.2 million tons.

The Covid-19 pandemic could affect the production and export of some countries such as China and India. Domestic and global food demand is likely to increase as some countries and people can buy it for storing. Therefore, MARD will closely monitor market movements to adjust the area of autumn-winter rice to about 800,000 hectares if possible.