Rice price has unexpectedly soared up to 40 percent after many groundless rumours have been sent to mobile phones of hundreds of rice exporters for a couple of weeks, Mr Truong Thanh Phong, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said at a press conference on rice export held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on August 24.
Squashing fabrication
Mr Phong confirmed that all rumours like Vietnam signs a contract to export 500,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia or Vinafood II exports 300,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia, 200,000 tonnes to Malaysia are falsified.
“Vietnam has now not signed any new rice export contacts,” he noted.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien added that there is absolutely no export that harms domestic market and export [plan]. On other hand, rice production is expanding, the domestic market is stable and exporters also do their jobs well.
“Recently, some fabricated Thailand’s rice price support policy to stir up the anxiety of Vietnamese rice farmers and exporters. However, according to Thai Deputy Commerce Minister, the policy will not be applied until November and is applied flexibly basing on reality,” Bien pointed out.
As regards rice consumption, Mr Dao Quoc Luan, Deputy Director of Planning Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnam’s rice export volume is forecast to rise only 1.5 million tonnes; hence, it is impossible to consume all rice in the country.
He affirmed that the current stockpile of 1.3 million tonnes is enough to cover the market demand through the year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with competent authorities to work out ugly rumour spreaders.
To prevent such market-confounding rumours, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Bien said the Ministry of Industry and Trade has requested the VFA to clarify the source of information and work with the police to deal with this case.
Year-end market forecast
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development forecast the rice output to reach 41.601 million tonnes this year, an increase of 1.522 million tonnes from 2010. After setting aside about 27.52 million tonnes for domestic consumption (including seedling, food, and husbandry), Vietnam will have 14.08 million tonnes of unhusked rice, or about 8 million tonnes of husked rice. The output rise is resulted from larger cultivated areas in the Mekong Delta.
Given high global demand, farmers sell rice at very good prices this year. Exporters have shipped nearly 5 million tonnes of rice and currently stockpiled over 1.3 million tonnes. Or in other words, farmers sold about 6.3 million tonnes of husked rice.
If there are no unexpected disease outbreak and disaster, Vietnam is expected to have 8 million tonnes of rice for export in 2011, let alone 0.8 million tonnes in 2010, enough to balance export demand in the remaining months of 2011 and early months of 2012.
As regards external impacts, the world rice market is inclined to some risks arising from price fluctuations which may caused by India’s export permission, Thailand’s rice farmer high income guarantee policy, and rising supply from Cambodia, Pakistan and Myanmar.
Market solutions
Anticipating complex development and uncertainties on the world rice market because of new policies and output rises from major exporters, ministries, localities and the VFA agreed to ensure abundant supply for domestic consumption, export as well as food security. The winter - spring crop will be boosted to ensure the export supply in the first months of 2012.
They also agreed to keep rice prices high to widen margins for farmers. The VFA will regularly update market information and send recommendations to ensure sustained development.
Huong Ly
Vietnamese
