Cambodia ultimately won the title this year.

The organisers didn’t give second and third prizes, but instead announced Top 4 going to rice varieties from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. 

The winning rice was selected by a group of international chefs, who examined the look and smell of the rice, as well as judging its taste when properly cooked.

Along with the positive recognition of Vietnamese rice, Vietnamese agricultural engineer Ho Quang Cua, who has crossbred ST24 and ST25 varieties, received the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Rice Trader (TRT) World Rice Community.

Cua was honoured due to his great contributions to the rice industry in Vietnam and the world. The engineer has studied the crossbreeding and improvement of the quality of the ST varieties for more than 20 years.

In 2017, ST24 was named in the top three of the World's Best Rice contest in Macau, China. Two years later, ST25 was recognized as the World's Best Rice at the global contest in Manila, the Philippines.

ST25 was also awarded second prize at the World's Best Rice Contest 2020 in the US.

Source: VOV