In the context that many major rice exporting countries in the world such as India, Russia, United Arab Emirates (UAE)... have officially stopped exporting rice, rice prices in Vietnam are increasing rapidly.
During the regular July press conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held on the afternoon of August 1, Mr. Nguyen Van Viet, Director of the Planning Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said: "In recent days, rice prices have increased very high, this is a signal It's fun, but we still have to be careful." Accordingly, the price of IR50404 rice increased to 6,500 VND/kg; OM 5451 rice increased to 6,800 VND/kg, Dai Thom rice increased to 6,950 VND/kg. Vietnam's rice exports in the first 7 months of the year reached 4.84 million tons, worth 2.58 billion USD, an increase of 29.6%.
Regarding the rice production situation, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong, Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that the 2023 cultivation plan is 7.1 million hectares, with expected output of over 43 million tons.
"After examining the rice production situation in the Red River Delta, North Central and Mekong Delta regions, up to this point it can be confirmed that the growth and development of rice is very good. The output target is over 43 million tons can be achieved. It is expected that this year Vietnam will export about 7.8 million tons of rice. Boosting exports at this time will not affect food security," Mr. Cuong affirmed.
Taking advantage of the rising rice prices, the Department of Crop Production has arranged to increase the production area for the Fall-Winter crop in the Mekong Delta from 650,000 to 700,000 hectares. "This is an opportunity for us to export rice. If we don't take advantage of it, we will miss the opportunity," Mr. Cuong said, adding that yesterday (July 31), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development submitted it to the Prime Minister for promulgation. Directive on increasing rice exports in the current context.
After the Directive is issued, ministries, branches and localities will focus on technical and administrative solutions to remove difficulties for businesses and farmers to increase rice exports.
Regarding the issue of whether India stopping rice exports will affect Vietnam's need to import rice for animal feed, a representative of the Department of Livestock Production said that Vietnam's need to use rice bran is not large. and rice bran is not an important ingredient in animal feed production. Each year Vietnam needs about 4.7 million tons of rice bran to make animal feed, however the domestic market has met about 4 million tons, imported only 0.7 million tons/year and the ingredients in bran extract glass only accounts for 5-10%.
According to a representative of the Department of Livestock, it is possible to replace rice bran with wheat bran, because wheat bran has high nutritional value and reasonable price (6,200 to 6,500 VND/kg." India, Russia and the UAE ban the export of rice will not affect domestic animal feed production," a representative of the Department of Livestock affirmed.