The European Union continues to be a potential rice export market for Vietnamese enterprises because of stable demand, especially at a high level, for specialty rice from Asia.

With 27 member countries, a population of about 516 million people, GDP per capita of more than USD 35,000/year, The EU market needs to import a large amount of goods, especially agricultural products (more than USD 160 billion each year) from all over the world. For Vietnam, this is the third largest export market of agricultural products, with a turnover of about USD 5.5 billion/year. But Vietnamese agricultural products only account for 4% of the EU's import market share, rice alone accounts for just over 1% of the market share.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), in 2022, Vietnam's rice exports to the EU are expected to increase significantly. In particular, the quality of Vietnamese rice has been improved, mainly aromatic rice varieties, meeting the tastes of European consumers.

Taking advantage of the EVFTA to export fragrant rice with 0% tax is in the hands of enterprises with large raw material areas, cultivated to high standards such as Loc Troi, Tan Long, Trung An... In September 2020, as soon as the EVFTA took effect for a few days, Loc Troi was the first enterprise to export an order of 126 tons of fragrant rice to the EU under this agreement. In 2021, the Group continuously developed this market and accounted for nearly 70% of the total rice exports to the EU.

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, Can Tho City said that the EVFTA continues to bring greater opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products, including rice. This enterprise has also taken advantage of the EVFTA to export rice to Switzerland, France, Germany, etc. with an output of thousands of tons.

According to data from the European Statistics Agency (Eurostat), among the 10 major foreign rice suppliers to the EU, Vietnam's rice exports to the EU achieved the strongest price increase, an increase of 20.3%, reaching an average of USD 781/ton.

The entry into force of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has boosted Vietnam's export rice price by UDS 10-20/ton (depending on type). This has partly compensated for the low increase in rice exports due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the commitment in the EVFTA, each year, the EU gives Vietnam an export quota of about 80,000 tons, including 30,000 tons of milled rice, 20,000 tons of unmilled rice and 30,000 tons of fragrant rice, etc. This amount of quota will significantly support exporters to take advantage of tariff preferences of 0%.

Kylie Nguyen