According to data from the General Department of Customs, businesses exported 562,943 tons of rice in February with a value in turnover of USD 373.4 million, an increase of 5.3% in volume and an increase of up to 30.5% in value compared to the same period last year.

Accumulated over the first two months of the year, Vietnam's rice exports reached more than 1 million tons with a value of USD 735.6 million, an increase of 20.4% in volume and an increase of up to 55.7% in value compared to the same period last year.

In the first 2 months of the year, in general, Vietnam's rice exports to most major consumer markets gained strong growth.

In particular, the Philippines continues to be the largest export market with a volume of 500,195 tons, worth USD 337 million, an increase of 24.4% in volume and an increase of 64.7% in value compared to the same period last year. This market accounts for 46.5% in volume and 45.8% in value of Vietnam's total rice exports.

Indonesia ranked second, accounting for 20.4% of the volume with 219,165 tons, worth USD 141.7 million, an increase of 52.4% in volume and an increase of 2.1 times in value compared to the same period last year. In February alone, businesses delivered 191,909 tons of rice to this market, 3.3 times more than the same period. This is part of the total 300,000 tons of rice that Vietnamese businesses won the bid to export to Indonesia in the auction held in January this year.

Rice exports to the next largest markets, Malaysia and Ghana, also increased very strongly in the first 2 months of the year, with increases of 112.3% and 308.9%, respectively, to 38,257 tons and 26,810 tons.

Notably, the volume of rice exported to the French market increased dramatically 144 times in volume and 180 times in value, reaching 18,269 tons, worth USD 18.9 million. With this result, France has risen to 7th place in volume and 5th in value of Vietnam's rice exports. The price of rice exported to France is up to USD 1,036/ton, the highest among Vietnamese rice buying markets.

However, rice exports to China decreased deeply by 87.3%, Ivory Coast decreased by 54.1%, Hong Kong decreased by 31.7%, etc.

Rice export prices in February decreased for the first time since September last year, with a decrease of 6.2% over the previous month to an average of USD 663/ton. But compared to the same period last year, this price is still nearly 24% higher.

Accumulated over the first two months of the year, the average rice export price reached an average of USD 684/ton, an increase of 29.4% over the same period in 2023.

Kylie Nguyen