Vietnamese group wins Japonica rice export contracts to RoK

Tan Long's rice processing plant

Tan Long has entered the rice export market in recent years.

Its rice processing plant is located in Lap Vo district in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap with capacity of 180,000 – 200,000 tonnes of rice per year.

The company’s traditional markets are the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Recently, it has been able to access the Republic of Korea – a choosy market with strict regulations on quality and date of delivery.

Japonica is a high-quality round grain variety, which has been cultivated in the Mekong Delta for the past 10 years.

Since late 2016, Tan Long Group has won bids to provide this kind of rice to the RoK.

In 2017, the group won two contracts to export more than 41,000 tonnes of rice to the market.

The outcomes were attributed to the company’s efforts to build a rice production chain in the Mekong Delta – the rice bowl of Vietnam.

It aims to connect farmers with rice processing plants to expand the production of high-quality rice for exports by applying new modern technology.

Vietnam earned US$1.1 billion from exporting 2.16 million tonnes of rice in the first four months of 2018, up 35.7% in value and 21.7% in volume.

China remained the biggest rice importer of Vietnam with 29.1% of the rice market share, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Average export price for rice showed a year-on-year rise of 15% to touch US$501 per tonne, thanks largely to improved quality.

High-quality rice comprised up to 81 percent of rice export volume, the ministry said, forecasting the world’s rice market will see a decrease in supply and increase in demand in the near future.

In 2018, Vietnam is forecast to ship 6.5 million tonnes of rice abroad, up 700,000 tonnes compared to 2017.

According to Vietnam’s Rice Market Development Strategy, one of the country’s goals is to gradually reduce the rice export volume but increase the value of exported rice.

Vietnamese rice is now exported to more than 130 markets worldwide.