VN rice in advantageous position

V Subramanian.

How is Vietnamese rice positioned in the global market now?

I think Vietnamese rice has a very good position in the world market. Viet Nam has succeeded with many products, including jasmine rice, dragon rice, glutinous rice and so on. This is a very positive development and good value business for Viet Nam. And in the white rice segment, Viet Nam is going to have a good position in the future. Exactly, what it will be is not certain, we have to wait and see [what happens ] with Thailand's rice, which is becoming quite expensive. There is also a lot of potential for Viet Nam in the high quality segment.

Even today you are still delivering rice to Malaysia, Indonesia and Cuba. This is keeping the export business quite strong.

What about the quality of Viet Nam's rice ?

I see that Viet Nam has already exported more dragon rice compared to last year. I think last year was something like 350,000 tonnes. This year it is already more than 400,000 tonnes, the same with glutinous rice. It's now a matter of how much more Viet Nam can produce.

With the white rice 5 per cent, Viet Nam's quality has improved a lot, when we compare the winter-spring crop to the autumn crop, because of investment in dryers and other facilities.

Many of the traders don't complain about the quality of Viet Nam's rice any more. I think a lot of steps have been already taken. I remember two years ago, when I came to the same rice festival, we talked about this and a lot of areas of improvement can already been seen. That is very positive for Viet Nam.

What is the biggest challenge for Vietnamese rice in the global market?

The price. Some days, you have to sell your product to consumers, and at the moment, many traders have bought a lot of Vietnamese rice and Thai rice and stocked them in Africa. And this stock, which they bought at high price, has to be sold first, before they can buy more rice from Viet Nam. In the meantime, you have much cheaper rice available in India and Pakistan, who are also competing for space in Africa.

Africa is the important market for ASEAN, but the challenge is also in Asia. You have Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Bangladesh. Each market has unique characteristics. Like Bangladesh, it's a challenge for Viet Nam. The Bangladeshi government says Viet Nam's rice has a good reputation in the country, but compared to India's rice, it's expensive.

But Indonesia has a good trade record with Viet Nam. I believe this will continue, because of the good relationship between the two countries. And I think Indonesians like Viet Nam's rice. Indonesia has a good potential for Viet Nam. Malaysia too.

With Thailand's rice becoming more expensive, Viet Nam's rice is in a advantageous position, because the competition is then with Pakistan. But Pakistan's 5 per cent white rice, sold to Malaysia, is not as much as what Viet Nam can offer in terms of quantity.

How should Viet Nam prepare for upcoming challenges in the world market?

I think most of the steps have been already taken. Right now you have to decide what type of rice is going where. I think this decision should be made on the ground. The farmers, the millers, they will send the message which type of rice they prefer to meet the demand of the market.

What do you think about the large-scale farming model in Viet Nam?

I don't have enough information to evaluate it, but I know large-scale farming tends to have better efficiency. Just hope the weather is ok, and I think the investment will pay off. I believe the steps are in the right direction. — VNS