Rice prices increase every day

With 3 generations living together, each month, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien's family in Block 11, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City has to buy more than 50 kg of rice. Normally, 1 kg of rice from her hometown is bought at Ben Thuy market for 15,000 VND/kg, but now it has increased to 17,000 VND. "The price increase is not too much, but for working people like us, if we contribute a little bit of each thing, it is still a significant amount of money. Not to mention having to buy more delicious rice such as fragrant rice, ST25 for the elderly to eat, the price is much higher," Ms. Hien shared.

Following the general price increase of the rice market, in recent days, in Nghe An province, all types of rice have increased quite clearly. Selling 2.5-3 quintals of ST25 rice per month, Ms. Bui Thi Xuan - a trader in Le Loi ward said: Every year, my sister in Dak Lak produces about 12-15 tons of ST25 rice. After selling to traders, she usually leaves about 3 tons for retail. Recently, due to the increase in rice prices, the import price has also increased from 22,000 VND/kg to 25,000 VND/kg. After calculating the costs, I currently retail at 30,000 VND/kg, mainly to relatives and friends, but in the current market, the retail price of ST25 rice is approximately 40,000 VND/kg.

Having been in the business of purchasing rice for milling and importing for large agents in Dien Chau and Nghia Dan districts for many years, Ms. Cao Thi Ty in Hamlet 3, Tan Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District has recently found it most difficult to buy rice. There is a "network" of collectors in almost all communes in the region, normally her family buys a few tons of rice each day, some days less.

“The price of rice has been increasing continuously in the past few weeks. Five days ago, the price of Thai Xuyen 111 and TBR225 rice increased to 8,000 VND/kg, but now it has increased to 8,500 VND/kg; the average price of glutinous rice is 8,000-8,200 VND/kg. However, people are not selling much because they want to wait for the price of rice to increase even more. Meanwhile, in the summer-autumn crop, many families have stopped producing or left the rice to die, serving the needs of their families, so it is likely that it will be even more difficult to buy in the near future,” Ms. Ty worried.

“Famous” for her job of making banh muot, on peak days when there are many customers booking events, Ms. Ha Thi Huong in Hamlet 3, Xuan Than Commune, Yen Thanh District imports up to 100 kg of banh muot, and on normal days she imports 20-30 kg. To make 10 kg of banh muot, the amount of rice needed is 3-4 kg, and so, every month she has to buy hundreds of tons of rice.

“It has been a long time since the price of rice has increased as much as it is now. Normally, buying Khang Dan rice costs only 10,500-11,000 VND/kg, but now it has increased to 12,500 VND/kg, 504 rice has increased from 13,000 VND/kg to 14,500 VND/kg. According to information from rice dealers, the price of rice will continue to increase and not stop, but I have to accept to buy as much as I can because I don't have money to buy rice and paddy to store,” Ms. Huong shared. Due to the increase in rice prices, the wholesale price of rice cakes Ms. Huong imported also increased to 15,000 VND/kg, 1,000 VND higher than a few weeks ago.

With 346 hectares of rice fields, each year, Xuan Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) has a total rice output of about 45,000 tons. Ms. Do Thi Quy - an agricultural officer of the commune said: In the area, there are about 200 households with a production area of ​​0.4-0.5 hectares of rice, and the amount of rice these households sell accounts for about 2/3 of the output.
However, at present, spring rice has basically been sold by farmers to traders and agents in the area right after harvest, so although rice prices have increased, there is not much rice left to sell. In the spring crop, farmers mainly produce quality rice varieties such as TBR225, NA6... for food, while in the summer-autumn crop alone, there will be nearly 300 hectares of high-yield Khang Dan rice variety produced, mainly for vermicelli and cakes. Therefore, the buying and selling of rice in the area will be very exciting when the summer-autumn rice is harvested, and the high price of rice is a good sign for farmers who work hard.

Ensuring food security

Since July, rice prices in localities across the country have shown an upward trend, reaching an 11-year high. The reason for this situation is concerns about food security after India banned rice exports.

In the export market, Vietnamese rice continues to increase sharply with an increase of 20 USD/ton. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first 7 months of 2023, Vietnam's rice exports reached more than 4.8 million tons, equivalent to 2.6 billion USD, up 19% in volume and 30% in value over the same period in 2022. And in the current context, we need to seize the opportunity, bring value and efficiency to producers and traders, and at the same time expand the market...

However, as warned by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, it is extremely important to ensure national food security. To stabilize the market, ensure rice supply as well as control the increase in domestic food prices, localities need to direct and urge enterprises participating in the market stabilization program to have plans for rice sources, ensuring supply to the market from now until the end of 2023 and the Lunar New Year period at stable prices; direct rice exporting enterprises in the area to maintain the amount of rice reserved for market stabilization according to regulations, ready to supply to the market when necessary; carry out the purchase and delivery of goods according to a reasonable schedule and balance the export volume to ensure supply for the domestic market, avoid massive buying causing market instability, local supply-demand imbalance, pushing up domestic rice prices unreasonably.

With over 91,000 hectares of spring rice and about 81,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice, Nghe An has an annual rice output of over 1.1 million tons. Of which, serving the food needs of the people accounts for only about 1/3, the rest is sold to businesses, traders and retailers. The increase in rice prices in recent days has first of all brought benefits to farmers, some households are still holding rice hoping that prices will continue to increase. The forecast of the rice price increase from now until the end of the year will be a good sign for Nghe An farmers when entering the upcoming summer-autumn rice harvest.