Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s rice export has posted remarkable figures in thefirst half of 2018, and the sector expects business to get better in theremaining months of the year as the country’s traditional rice markets areincreasing import.

The latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) show thatVietnam exported 3.6 million tonnes of rice, earning 1.83 billion USD in theyear’s two first quarters, up 26.2 percent in volume and 44.3 percent in valueyear-on-year.

In June, Vietnam’s 5-percent broken white rice was sold at 450 USD/tonne, higher than that of India and Thailand, which wereat 410 USD/tonne and 435 USD/tonne, respectively.

China still remains the biggest importer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 26percent of the country’s total rice volume and export turnover, with 891,688tonnes worth 474.84 million USD.

However, rice export to this market suffered a 27.6 percent decrease in volumeand a 14.8 percent drop in turnover compared to the same period last year. Theprice of export rice to China in the last 6 months reached an average of 532.5USD/tonne, up 17.7 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, shipment of rice to Indonesia - the second largest rice importer ofVietnam, recorded a sudden surge, up 45 times in volume and 60 times in valueover the same period last year, reaching 685,908 tonnes worth 322.01 millionUSD. The export price also sharply increased by 33.7 percent to an average 469.5USD per tonne.

Other major export markets of Vietnam in the period were Iraq, Malaysia, the US,Hong Kong (China), the Philippines, and Ghana, the ministry said.

Experts predict that Vietnam still has the opportunity to increase its riceexport turnover in the remaining months of the year thanks to the increasingdemand of traditional markets.

From the last quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, the demand of riceis forecast to increase in the Philippines market as the country plans to launch bidding for the import of 805,200 tonnes of riceunder the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme of 2018.

If the plan is carried out, it would be a great chance for Vietnam to boost riceexport as the Philippines has been one of the largest markets of Vietnameserice in recent years.

Thedemand for rice from Indonesia and Malaysia is projected to remain stable, theministry said, adding that the Bangladesh market also has a demand for riceimport besides big demand in the African market.

Experts,however, noted that Vietnamese rice exporters are also facing many challenges.

At a recent teleconference, Minister of MoIT Tran Tuan Anh pointed out thatimpact from the US-China trade war is likely to affect Vietnam’s exports,including rice.

In addition, protectionism is reappearing, as seen in the US’s applying tradesafeguard measures, or in Indonesia and India. Therefore, with its highly-openeconomy, Vietnam will partly suffer from these fluctuations.

Expertssaid that the best solution for now is to focus on improving the quality of ricefor export through using high quality varieties and promoting technologyapplication, and mechanization to reduce production costs, increase productivityand quality of rice, thus increasing the value and competitiveness of products.

Exporters are also advised to fully take advantage of free trade agreementswith foreign partners to diversify markets, towards increasing export turnover.

Vietnam is expected to harvest 23.3 million tonnes of rice inthe remaining months of 2018, raising total output in the year to 43.9 milliontonnes, representing a year-on-year rise of at least 1.2 million tonnes.

The country aims to sell 6.5 million tonnes of rice abroad in2018, including 2.7 million tonnes to China; 800,000 tonnes each to the Philippinesand Indonesia; 500,000 tonnes to Malaysia; 200,000 tonnes to Iraq and 1 milliontonnes to African markets.-VNA