Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Vietnam sets lower rice exports for 2004
Reuters Hanoi, January 7
Vietnam may have just regained the world number two spot in rice exports from India, but the government is setting a lower target for shipments this year in part to curb temptation among buyers to seek lower prices.
The Trade Ministry has set the export target this year at 3.5 million tonnes of rice, down from nearly 3.9 million tonnes shipped in 2003, said Nguyen Thi Nguyet, general secretary of the Vietnam Food Association, the industry body.
A ministry report projected 2004 rice exports to earn $700 million, slightly lower than $719 million last year. Vietnam competes with Thailand and India in the world's rice market.
Last year Thailand exported 7.58 million tonnes, up four per cent from 2002, and aims for eight million tonnes this year. Indian traders said India shipped around two million tonnes, from nearly 5.6 million tonnes the previous year.
"The (Vietnam's) export figure is purely a target and could be revised based on outputs of the winter-spring and summer-autumn crops," Nguyet said from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's busiest grain trading centre which houses Saigon Port.
Asked how this might affect supplies for the rice-eating country, Nguyet said: "We are not concerned over the food security because, as long as life improves, rice is no longer the staple and people have alternatives such as fruit and wheat."
Farmers in the Mekong Delta rice basket grow three crops annually, but after making profits in the past two years, they now use the land in the off-season for extra crops, Nguyet said.
Last year a kg of paddy fetched 1,600 to 1,700 dong (10.2 to 10.9 cents), against a cost of 1,300 dong, agriculture ministry figures show.
"The export target, which is a lower figure, reflects considerations on the population growth and Hanoi's willingness to stabilise the market," said a rice trader with a Ho Chi Minh City-based foreign firm.
MORE PEOPLE, LESS RICE
Vietnam's population last year rose 1.18 per cent over 2002 to 80.67 million and is expected to hit 81.5 million by the end of this year, provided a one per cent growth rate is maintained.
Trade ministry experts put domestic consumption at 27 million tonnes of paddy, or 13.5 million tonnes of husked rice, in 2003.
Last week the agriculture ministry set out this year's paddy production target at 34.2 million tonnes, from last year's 34.67 million tonnes.
Government data show Vietnam's average rice yield last year edged up 0.9 per cent over 2002 to 4.63 tonnes per hectare while the total area shrunk 0.7 per cent to 7.45 million hectares (18.41 million acres).
Nguyet said export prospects this year would not be affected, as key Asian buyer the Philippines had kept its import plans stable. Manila plans a purchase this year of 945,000 tonnes, compared with 934,000 tonnes imported in 2003.
Farmers in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam will start harvesting the highest yielding, export quality winter-spring crop late this month.
Traders said plentiful supply from mid-February would boost loading under contracts signed last year for destinations including Cuba, Brazil, Iraq, Iran, Algeria and Libya.
"The 3.5 million tonnes (export target for 2004) is very likely to be achieved," said the Ho Chi Minh City trader.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.