CAN THO – Vietnam set a new record in rice exports in 2023, with over 8.1 million tons valued at US$4.7 billion, yet the results still undershot the target set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In December, the country shipped 492,400 tons of rice, bringing in around US$339 million. These figures represented an 18% decrease in quantity and a 15.4% drop in value versus November.
Rice export volume in 2023 rose 14.4% year-on-year, while its value surged by an impressive 35.3% year-on-year.
Despite these positive figures, they did not reach the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s initial estimates of 8.3 million tons in volume and US$4.78 billion in value.
In an interview with The Saigon Times, the director of a major rice-exporting company in the Mekong Delta expressed concerns about the average export price of Vietnamese rice in 2023. Given the industry’s dynamics, the average export price stood at US$575 per ton, which was considered ineffective for many businesses in the sector as local prices surged, he said.
The Philippines remained the biggest buyer of Vietnamese rice, importing over 3.1 million tons in 2023. It was followed by Indonesia, China, and Ghana, with respective purchases of 1.15 million tons, 908,000 tons, and 576,000 tons, respectively.
