About 396,000 tonnes of rice was exported in September, bringing home US$176 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. During the first eight months of 2016, though China’s purchase of Vietnamese rice declined 21.4% in volume and 12.3% in value (to 1.18 million tonnes and US$538 million) year on year, the country remained the biggest importer of this farm produce of Vietnam. China was followed by Ghana, which imported 343,000 tonnes worth US$166.4 million, up 36.9% in volume and 30.6% in value. Notably, Indonesia’s import of Vietnamese rice shot up 24.3 times in volume and 25.4 times in value, with 359,000 tonnes and US$142.5 million. Meanwhile, sharp falls were seen in the value of rice export to the Philippines (down 67.4%), Malaysia (43.3%), Singapore (35.7%), Ivory Coast (25.3%) and China’s Taiwan (14.1%). The agriculture ministry said the win of a bid to supply 150,000 tonnes of 25-percent broken rice to the Philippines didn’t affect the domestic market. Rice prices in the Mekong Delta, the biggest rice hub of Vietnam, continued the downward trend in September due to the big inventory and poor sales while the harvest of early autumn-winter rice crop has begun.
