VietNamNet Bridge - Rice exporters say the “bad crop” in the first quarter of 2015 was the worst sales season ever, but the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) said the difficulties had been anticipated.

Deputy Minister of MOIT Tran Tuan Anh mentioned the unsatisfactory export volume when reporting the modest growth rate in total export turnover in the first quarter.

One of the reasons was that China changed its management policy and was slow in granting rice import quotas to Chinese businesses, which affected rice exports to the Chinese market.

Professor Academic Tran Dinh Long, chair of the Vietnam Seed Association, once  warned  that Vietnamese businesses may fall into the Chinese “trap” when trying to sell rice in bulk to China.

Also, rice exporters could not get big contracts in the first quarter. A report from the General Statistics Office showed that only one million tons of rice were exported in the first quarter, worth $450 million, which represented a 26 percent decrease in quantity and 30 percent in value, compared with the same period last year.

However, MOIT said rice exporters had been warned about the difficulties of the export markets, and had offered help for exporters to look for new markets and take full advantage of existing and upcoming free trade agreements.

Of the world’s biggest rice exporters, which make up 80 percent of global rice trade, Vietnam is the only one that “went downhill”. Vietnam fell from third to fourth position following Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, the other countries all saw sales increasing. Thailand, for example, had sales up by 10 percent, India by 50 percent and Pakistan by 22 percent. 

Rice exporters say they doubt MOIT’s promise to help look for new markets.

The director of a rice export company in the south noted that Vietnam’s rice is now “hard to sell” because sales heavily depend on key markets such as China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Vietnam has lost the African market to its rivals.

An analyst noted that Vietnam’s largest markets in Asia tend to be choosier amid abundant supply and lower prices from other exporters. Sources said Thai inventory was still high, at over 10 million tons, while Thai companies can make deliveries at any time. 

Lam Anh Tuan, director of Ben Tre-based Thinh Phat Food Company, noted that the Philippines and Indonesia no longer invite exporters for big package deals. 

They tend to buy rice in small quantities, because they know they can buy Thai rice i emergency cases.

Thai exporters are now making every effort to boost sales because the rice inventory has seen quality decreasing as time elapses.

Dat Viet