Loc Troi 28 and Nang Hoa 9 honoured as the World's Best Rice

There were multiple samples submitted from roughly 10 countries, including Cambodia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and others. With a variety of entries, the top three finalists were Cambodia (the 2022 champion) with fragrant rice, Vietnam (a former winner) with fragrant rice, and for the first time, India, with Basmati rice.

The winner of the World's Best Rice was chosen unanimously by all chefs in the contest, though it was a close battle with other finalists. The distinguished winner of the 2023 world's best rice award was Vietnam, including Loc Troi 28 and Nang Hoa 9 rice varieties from Loc Troi Group JSC in Vietnam.

Huynh Van Thon, chairman of Loc Troi Group said, “Loc Troi is delighted with the victory of Vietnamese rice. We are very honoured and proud to have contributed to this victory with two special rice varieties, namely Loc Troi 28 and Nang Hoa 9. With this victory, we have more pride and confidence in the stature of Vietnamese rice in the international market."

Loc Troi 28 is an inbred rice variety that is the result of a cross between Loc Troi 1 and Basmati. Loc Troi 1 reached the Top 3 of the World's Best Rice in 2015, while Basmati is famous as a national product of India, the world's largest rice exporter.

Loc Troi 28 stems from the aspiration of Huynh Van Thon, chairman of Loc Troi Group, to increase the price of Vietnamese rice to be around $1,000 per tonne, as with Basmati rice.

Since then, the scientists of Loc Troi Group have continuously made efforts to breed, select, and create Loc Troi 28. Loc Troi Group has implemented 10 seasons of pedigree selection to create a product that possesses the hybrid advantages of the Loc Troi 1 rice variety, which is soft, sticky, and fragrant, and the Basmati rice variety, which has a unique taste, aroma, and texture.

The rice variety has a long and slim body and clear and gorgeous skin. The cooked rice is soft and chewy, with a strong flavour blending between jasmine and pandan leaf. As a speciality fragrant rice variety suitable for the high-end market, Loc Troi 28 has exported more than 1,000 metric tons of rice all over the world and meets the requirements of the EU market.

Meanwhile, Nang Hoa 9 has inherited the outstanding characteristics of the Jasmine 85 and AS 996 varieties. It is alum-tolerant with a high yield, long grain, shiny ivory-white colour, and an amylose content of 18–19 per cent.

As a high-quality rice product, Nang Hoa 9 has a short growing time of 90–95 days, tolerates alum well, can adapt to many different lands, and has a high head rice recovery rate.

The rice variety has an elongated body, ivory-white seeds, and the ability to produce sticky, soft, and sweet rice with a light and long-lasting aroma. The rice is soft and not lumpy. Nang Hoa 9 is one of nine fragrant rice varieties on the list of varieties that enjoy tariff quotas for export to the European Union under the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement.

Nang Hoa 9 has exported more than 30,000 metric tons per year around the world.

Loc Troi and FMO sign $90-million credit package to advance sustainable rice production On November 2, Loc Troi Group JSC (LTG) announced the signing of a Letter of Intent for a $90-million credit package between LTG and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO).

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Shared solutions can bring out best in green ambition In 2030, Vietnam is forecast to generate 120 million tonnes of carbon emissions, of which rice cultivation accounts for half of the emissions.