RoK, Japan import Vietnamese rice again

July 16, 2012 | 08:00

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The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) reported that the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan have both started to import Vietnamese rice again.

Vietnam had shipped rice to these two demanding markets for a while, but halted consignments due to quality requirements, according to Nguyen Van Tien, director of An Giang import-export company.

Japan has resumed importing rice from Vietnam because the price of Vietnamese rice is lower than Thailand’s.

Japan is expected to import 600,000 tonnes of high-quality rice by the end of the year, and food safety and hygiene is the primary criterion it has set for exporters.

VFA President Truong Thanh Phong suggested that agricultural localities zone off special areas to grow high-quality varieties for export to these markets which have a big demand for high grade rice.

The past six months have been a difficult time for Vietnamese rice exporters. In the first quarter, they nearly lost out their African market to Indian businesses for low grade rice. However, in the second quarter, Vietnam promoted exporting high grade rice to the African market and the outlook now seems to be more optimistic.

The domestic price of rice in China is also higher than in Vietnam, so Vietnamese businesses still have opportunities to ship rice to this market. China has signed contracts to import 1.2 million tonnes from Vietnam since the beginning of this year. Of the total, 900,000 tonnes have been delivered

By the end of June, Vietnam had exported 3.45 million tonnes of rice, down 12.76 per cent against the same period last year.

VOV

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