Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s riceexporters could be set for a big first quarter, with demand from thePhilippines and Indonesia being forecast to increase due to the impact ofrecent natural disasters.

The Agro Processing and Market Development Department underthe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a recent pressbriefing it predicted a mixed year for the country’s key farm products.

Rice in particular looks set for an export bump thanks to thePhilippines removing import restrictions, leading to 166 Filipino firmsapplying to purchase 1 million tonnes of rice. Many of these firms intend tobuy the grain from Vietnam.

Under a new rice policy, the Philippines will impose a tariffof 35 percent on rice from ASEAN countries while the rate from non-ASEANexporters, 50 percent.

However, Vietnam will also face fiercecompetition from regional rivals like Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.Additionally, China – a major market of Vietnamese rice – has changed its cross-bordertrade management and boosted investment in rice production in regionalcountries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. That is likely to pressure riceshipments, the department said.

Regarding fruit exports, Acting Director of thedepartment Nguyen Quoc Toan said overseas shipments of fruits hit a record of3.8 billion USD in 2018. As fruit exports benefited from many favourableconditions last year, cultivators have sharply increased the output of manyfruits like lychee, longan, orange, mango and rambutan.

However, he admitted fruit exports are still tooreliant on the Chinese market, adding China has tightened import management inrecent months.

In 2019, fruit, vegetables and food will have tosatisfy stricter requirements to be imported into China, Toan noted.

Pepper prices are forecast to rebound slightlythis year as the output in some big exporting countries, including Vietnam,Brazil, Indonesia and India, is likely to decline from 2018. Vietnam isexpected to produce 175,000 tonnes of black pepper and 25,000 tonnes of whitepepper in 2019.

Meanwhile, rubber exports rose 13.3 percent involume but down 7 percent in value last year. Rubber prices have tended toincrease slightly in line with the developments in the global market since lastDecember, but they are unlikely to hike strongly in 2019 due to a lack ofsupport factors and weaker Chinese demand, the Agro Processing and MarketDevelopment Department said.

Difficulties are also predicted for Vietnam’stea exports, which fell 8.6 percent in volume and 4.1 percent in value year onyear in 2018, it noted, pointing to the oversupply in the global market, almoststagnant tea demand and strict requirements in importing countries.

In terms of aquatic exports, Toan said theEU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement will take effect this year with tariffs onabout 90 percent of Vietnamese aquatic products destined for the EU reducing tozero percent in three or four years. This is a considerable advantage foraquatic products from Vietnam as the EU’s tariffs on similar products of othercountries stand at about 14 percent.

Besides that, demand in some markets like theRepublic of Korea or ASEAN countries is forecast to soar in 2019. Therefore,Vietnam is likely to record a surge in aquatic exports this year to reach 10billion USD, the official added.-VNA