The upstream provinces of the Mekong Delta such as An Giang and Dong Thap are harvesting winter-spring rice, the harvested area is small, so the output is still quite low, while the increased demand in the market has pushed up rice prices this week. Through a sharp increase.
The winter-spring crop 2020-2021 has started, but the supply is still low, only 5%-6% of the output is harvested, until the end of February or the beginning of March, the rice trade is quite slow. Slow due to buyers waiting for peak harvest.
From January 25, the price of rice in the Mekong Delta region (the Mekong Delta) started to increase and has remained at a high level of 200-300 VND/kg. Specifically, on January 31, 2021, in An Giang, fresh IR 50404 purchased at the field ranged from 7,000 -7,100 VND/kg; Aroma 8 costs 7,500 VND/kg; OM 5451 price 7,100 VND/kg; Jasmine rice 7,000 VND/kg; OM 9577 6,900 VND/kg; OM 9582 7,000 VND/kg; Dried sticky rice 7,700 VND/kg.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), on January 29, Vietnam's 5% broken white rice was offered for sale at $523/ton, and 25% rice at $498/ton. Thai 5% broken rice costs 530 USD/ton, 25% broken rice costs 507 USD/ton. Indian 5% broken rice costs 388 USD/ton, 25% broken rice costs 348 USD/ton.
Last week, there were still ships that received rice for export to the Philippines before Vietnamese businesses closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

MAJOR MARKETS STILL MAINTAIN RICE IMPORTS
Currently, the main export markets of Vietnam such as the Philippines, Africa ... continue to sign contracts to buy rice from Vietnam and the price of rice is at a very optimistic level. It is forecasted that rice exports in 2021 will still maintain an optimistic signal in terms of both output and selling price.
The Philippines will still emerge as the world's largest rice importer and the number 1 market for Vietnamese rice until the end of 2021, with domestic production expected to decline.
Commenting on the rice export market in 2021, Mr. Mohit Agarwal, Sales Director of Rice, Olam Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that China will continue to maintain the same amount of rice purchases from Vietnam as in 2020.
In some traditional markets of Vietnam such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, they still maintain the same amount of rice purchases as in 2020. Indonesia has increased its purchase of Vietnamese rice 3 times over the same period in 2019. The Malaysian market has nothing special. In particular, the Iraqi market in 2020 has reduced the amount of rice purchased by Vietnam by 65% ​​compared to 2019.
In the past 5 years, Africa's rice demand has been steadily increasing, and it is expected that the demand for rice in this market in 2021 will still increase like 2020.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2021, the Philippines' rice imports are expected to increase by 15%, equivalent to 3 million tons. USDA has lowered its import forecast for the Philippines from 3.3 million tons previously.
In 2021, the Philippines will still be the top importer, as China is expected to buy only 2.2 million tons. The tariff law enacted in 2019 has helped increase the amount of imported rice in the market and lower the price of milled rice in general.
However, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) quoted the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) recently as saying that the country's rice imports in 2021 may decrease by 15.5% to 1.69 million tons, as unmilled harvested rice reached an expected record high of 20.48 million.
According to Philippine Deputy Agriculture Secretary Ariel T. Cayanan, the domestic unfilled rice production forecast for the whole year in 2020 will reach 20.48 million tons, 5.35% higher than the estimated production of 19.44 million. tons last year. Higher output this year will bring the country's rice self-sufficiency to 95% from 90% last year. He said this year's record high output could be achieved by the continuous implementation of government interventions, including the rice competitiveness improvement fund and the rice resilience project.

Drought Hurts RICE PRODUCTION IN Mekong Delta
VFA said that, in order to ensure that rice export turnover and volume in 2021 remain at the same or higher level as in 2020, VFA proposed a number of solutions to develop markets and access foreign markets through Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad.
VFA has also built online sales channels and participated in online trade seminars to develop the rice industry. Products will also focus on high-quality ones that are showing good export results…

However, the year's drought is forecasted to come early and with complicated developments in the Mekong River Delta, which may seriously affect the key rice-producing regions of the country.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the 2021 dry season in the Mekong Delta is starting, the water source upstream compared to the average of many years is decreasing, due to the impact of extreme upstream flows, due to The country uses water upstream of the Mekong River for economic activities, hydropower, water sharing... The current water level in Tan Chau and Chau Doc is lower than the same period in many years, and it is forecasted that February and March will continue. Continued to decline, causing drought and water shortage for the Mekong Delta. Therefore, right now the localities in the region need to prepare a response plan…
According to the Department of Crop Production, as of January 14, 2020, provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region have sown the winter-spring crop 2020-2021 with 1,352 hectares/1,550 million hectares of the planned area, and harvested more than 100,000 hectares. With a yield of about 4.65 tons/ha.