In an interview with The Saigon Times, Duong Van Chin, former vice director of the Mekong Delta Rice Institute, emphasized the need for Vietnam to focus on developing the high-grade long-grain white rice segment The Saigon Times: At the seminar “Solutions to enhance the efficiency of Vietnam’s rice chain” held in Can Tho City on November 3, one paradox was mentioned: rice export prices are rising while rice exporters are incurring losses and hesitating to sign new export contracts. What is your take on this? Duong Van Chin: I believe there are two key issues that need clarification. Firstly, even though export rice prices have increased, is this increase justified based on the quality of the rice? For a long time, state-owned food companies have focused on finding customers and have competed through low prices. Consequently, they have accepted low-price contracts to supply rice to the international market, often buying rice from farmers at lower prices to ensure profitability. This situation has now evolved. There are two main types of rice that dominate the global market: high-grade fragrant white rice, such as India’s Basmati and Thailand’s Hom Mali, priced at US$1,000-1,200 per ton, and long-grain white rice from Thailand and […]