Ministry of Industry and Trade holds urgent meeting on rice export situation

On September 9, 2025, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued Official Dispatch No. 160/CD-TTg on strengthening the implementation of tasks and solutions to promote production, export and stabilize the rice market. To promptly implement Official Dispatch No. 160/CD-TTg of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade organized a conference to promote rice export in the last 4 months of 2025 and the coming years. The conference focused on discussing and giving recommendations and solutions to promote production, export and stabilize the rice market in the coming time.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized that unlike many industrial products where FDI accounts for a large proportion but the added value left in the country is not high, rice actually brings direct and sustainable benefits to the economy . Therefore, rice export brings great economic significance, contributing to affirming the position and image of a developed Vietnam, contributing to poverty reduction and ensuring global food security.

However, recently the Philippine market - accounting for about 38 - 40% of our country's total rice exports, suddenly stopped importing for two months, meaning that about 500,000 tons of rice were "stuck", causing great difficulties. In addition, Indonesia also reduced imports. As a result, our rice exports have both decreased in output and been under pressure to reduce prices.

In this situation, the Government has given timely instructions. On September 9, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch 160 on strengthening the synchronous implementation of solutions to promote production, export and regulate the rice market. “This is also an opportunity for us to learn an important lesson: we must diversify the market, avoid dependence on a few partners, and avoid “putting all our eggs in one basket”. Only when the market is expanded and balanced can we minimize risks and respond effectively to fluctuations,” the Minister noted.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Anh Son, Director of the Import-Export Department, informed that according to preliminary statistics from the Customs, in the first 8 months of 2025, rice exports reached nearly 6.37 million tons of rice with a value of more than 3.26 billion USD, an increase of 3.7% in volume but a decrease of 15.4% in turnover compared to the same period in 2024 - the year of rice exports achieving the highest achievement ever.

Regarding export markets, the Philippines continues to be the largest importer of Vietnam with nearly 2.9 million tons, accounting for 45.9%, up 4.2% over the same period. Followed by the Ivory Coast market with 753.7 thousand tons, accounting for 11.85%, up 1.5 times over the same period last year. The Ghana market increased by nearly 94.8% over the same period, with export volume reaching 662.4 thousand tons, accounting for 10.4%.

Next is the Chinese market, after several years of continuous decline, in the first 8 months of the year it grew again, reaching 565.3 thousand tons, accounting for 8.9% of total export volume, up 141.3% over the same period.

In contrast, the significant decline from the Indonesian market decreased by nearly 97.2% to only nearly 25.4 thousand tons in 8 months after the Government of this country announced to stop importing rice in 2025. The Malaysian market also decreased by 45% compared to the same period. The amount of rice exported to the markets of the Philippines, Ivory Coast, Ghana, China, Bangladesh... all increased compared to the same period last year, offsetting the decline of the markets of Indonesia, Cuba, Malaysia...

From now until the end of the year, in terms of production, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, rice output in 2025 is estimated at 43.143 million tons, down 323 thousand tons compared to the same period in 2024. Commercial rice for export is estimated at about 15.085 million tons, equivalent to 7.542 million tons of rice.

Regarding exports, the demand for rice imports from markets such as China, Bangladesh, African countries, etc. is expected to be maintained. India's resumption of 100% broken rice exports will continue to put pressure on global rice prices, but will not have much impact on Vietnam because broken rice accounts for only a small proportion of exports and is in different market segments.

However, rice export activities will also face many difficulties due to weather phenomena, economic - political risks - food import and export policies in the rice trade market that can affect global trade; India's removal of a series of rice export restrictions from September 2024 has impacted the world rice price, which has continuously decreased in recent times.

Meanwhile, exports to the Philippine market are facing difficulties as the President of the Philippines issued Decree No. 93 announcing a temporary suspension of imports for 60 days from September 1 this year, which is a factor affecting market sentiment in the last four months of 2025.

To resolve the issue, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will strive to complete and submit to the Government a Decree replacing Decree No. 107/2018/ND-CP and Decree No. 01/2025/ND-CP to complete the legal framework, both creating a fair competitive environment for traders participating in rice export activities and closely controlling; continuing to improve the effectiveness of forecasting and balancing supply and demand through strengthening activities: closely assessing the production situation of crops, varieties, and planning plans for rice and commodity rice for export.

The Ministry also directed traders to strictly implement their responsibilities in the regime of periodic and ad hoc reporting, temporary purchasing and storage; continue to carry out law enforcement inspections and review traders' rice export results to promptly rectify and handle violations of Decree No. 107/2018/ND-CP and Decree No. 01/2025/ND-CP.

At the same time, continue to strengthen the work of searching, expanding and developing markets through negotiating and signing rice trade contracts with markets with import demand, organizing and implementing trade promotion activities, promoting the brand of Vietnamese rice products according to the Strategy for developing Vietnam's rice export market to 2030.

To effectively implement the results of the Prime Minister's work with heads of states, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will urge, exchange with the other side, promptly respond and confirm the working time between the two sides to negotiate on the rice export agreement; at the same time, strengthen warnings, support, and remove difficulties for traders in rice export business activities; improve competitiveness; build and strengthen the team of traders to meet the requirements of competition and international integration.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/bo-cong-thuong-hop-khan-ve-tinh-hinh-xuat-khau-gao-520430.html