Vietnam exports 5.2 million tonnes of rice worth US$2.6 billion in the first ten months of this year. (Photo: VNA)

According to the latest data from the Department of Agro-Product Processing and Market Development (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), China continues to rank first among Vietnam’s rice export markets, accounting for nearly 24% of the market share. Other markets also saw a sharp increase in importing Vietnamese rice, including Indonesia, Iraq, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The average rice export value in the last nine months of this year was at US$503 per tonne, up 13.7% over the same period last year. The price of jasmine rice was at US$575 per tonne at its highest, followed by Japonica rice at US$526 per tonne. The price for Vietnamese 5% broken rice in the first half of last month was at US$410 per tonne, higher than India's at US$372 per tonne and equivalent to Thailand's at US$411 per tonne.

The largest export market for Vietnamese jasmine rice is still China, accounting for 25% of the total exports, followed by Ghana with 21%. China continues to be the main market for Vietnamese sticky rice, accounting for 80% of the total glutinous rice exports.

According to the Department, domestic rice prices are expected to increase as enterprises buy more rice to serve export orders signed in October and prepare for the next orders that can be reached in the year-end biddings.

On October 18, the Philippines closed bids to buy 47,000 tonnes of rice, including 28,000 tonnes from Vietnam. Also on that day, Egypt opened its first tender in 2018 for the import of 25,000 tonnes of rice. In addition, during the 10th World Rice Conference in Hanoi last month, multiple export orders were signed, in which the Hanoi Trade Joint Stock Corporation (Hapro) reached orders with their US and Malaysian customers to export rice worth US$ 2.5 million.

Currently, farmers have finished harvesting their summer-autumn rice crop. Several localities also started harvesting their autumn-winter crop. The price for autumn-winter rice in the Mekong Delta rose slightly amidst a limited supply.