At the seminar on the world rice market situation jointly organized by the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) and Ssresource Media Company on September 6 in Can Tho City, Mr. Le Thanh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - said: Recently, not only the export market but also the domestic market has fluctuated strongly, there were times when domestic rice prices increased faster than world prices. This caused difficulties for rice exporting enterprises because the market fluctuated abnormally and some enterprises lacked market information.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nam - Chairman of VFA, the recent market fluctuations have made the supply increasingly scarce and rice prices increase. "Due to the sudden increase in prices, many export enterprises are facing difficulties in both supply and output markets," said Mr. Nam.

Speakers discuss at the seminar on the world rice market situation

Regarding the difficulties of businesses, according to experts from Ssresource Media Company, businesses that sell short (sign contracts without having customers) are under pressure. There are many renegotiations, delays in delivery and this means that transportation and delivery costs throughout the chain are increasing; not to mention many other unforeseen risks that can occur... leading to losses.

Pointing out the reasons for rice enterprises' losses, Mr. Do Ha Nam, Vice President of VFA, said that in May 2023, VFA representatives met with representatives of TREA (Thai Rice Exporters Association) in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Mr. Nam, at that time, the two sides discussed with each other and reached a consensus that India would introduce policies to restrict rice exports in 2023.

“With the above assessment, we believe that the price of summer-autumn rice will not decrease as usual every year but will increase. The association has shared information with its members. However, many business leaders do not think so (because this year the export price of rice has always been high), so they still signed contracts with partners. When India announced the ban, businesses were surprised and could not react in time," said Mr. Nam.

Domestic rice prices have also fluctuated strongly recently.

In the above context, Ms. Tran Thanh Binh, representative of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that proactive information of enterprises is very important.

According to Ms. Binh, in addition to the information forecast support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, each enterprise itself needs to proactively research the market to make judgments. "The decision depends entirely on the enterprise," Ms. Binh emphasized.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Thanh Hoa said that to limit negative impacts, rice export activities need to shift to the value chain, connecting supply and demand and the market. Mr. Hoa said that currently only a few businesses can do this, but from the perspective of the whole industry, it has not yet taken shape. This is something that businesses should continue to improve. In addition, businesses also need to upgrade their capacity, for example, accessing information in other languages.

"In an era where information is the key to power, having access to many sources of information will be a great advantage," Mr. Hoa stated his opinion.