Vietnamese Rice: Transforming from quantity to quality

VTV.vn - Faced with profound fluctuations in the international market, Vietnam's rice industry is facing a historic turning point.

The key issue is to shift the strategic focus from "output" to "value" to maintain the market, create sustainable competitiveness and enhance the national brand. This is an inevitable path, requiring synchronization from management policies, strategic vision of enterprises to specific actions of millions of Vietnamese farmers.

Global pressure and strong government response

The international rice market has recently witnessed strong fluctuations, with major importing countries suspending or reducing purchases, creating considerable pressure on the Vietnamese rice industry. However, instead of panicking, Vietnam is firmly taking a proactive stance, seeing this as an opportunity to assert its position and promote restructuring.

Signals from the world market, though challenging, are the driving force for us to proactively innovate and improve our competitiveness. This is the time for the Vietnamese rice industry to turn challenges into opportunities, constantly improving to reach new heights.

According to economic experts, reality has proven the need for proactivity. The Philippines - one of Vietnam's largest rice import markets - has announced a 60-day suspension of rice imports from early September 2025 to stabilize domestic prices and protect farmers. Similarly, Indonesia has also announced plans to sharply reduce or even stop rice imports in some periods to increase domestic supply. These moves show that over-reliance on a few markets is a strategic risk, forcing Vietnam to quickly adjust, diversify partners and improve core competitiveness.

Faced with such pressure, the Government and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh have given decisive instructions. The Prime Minister's Official Dispatch No. 160/CD-TTg dated September 9, 2025 on strengthening tasks and solutions to promote production, export and stabilize the rice market, together with Official Dispatch No. 7142/CD-BCT dated September 20, 2025 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, have created a comprehensive and synchronous action plan. These dispatches are not only immediate responses but also strategic action directions: from restructuring the supply chain, promoting market expansion, to stabilizing domestic supply and demand. Accordingly, ministries and branches are assigned the task of perfecting policy institutions to build specialized high-quality rice growing areas, supporting rice varieties suitable for export markets, and developing the national brand "Vietnam Rice". At the same time, ministries and sectors will step up their efforts to take advantage of FTA incentives, negotiate to expand fragrant rice quotas in the EU and the UK, and direct the Vietnam Trade Office system to closely follow changes in import policies. Trade promotion activities will be stepped up at the national level, and the urgent development of a new decree to replace old regulations on rice exports will also be prioritized.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is reviewing each FTA and promoting bilateral negotiations, opening the door for Vietnam’s specialty fragrant rice to high-end markets. The ultimate goal is to avoid dependence on a single market, while diversifying and increasing export value.

In addition, the management of the domestic market has also been resolutely strengthened, with requirements to prevent price gouging, trade fraud and encourage businesses to temporarily store under contract control. These are synchronous solutions that not only help maintain traditional markets but also open up opportunities to explore new potential markets such as Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, North America and the EU - regions with great demand for food and are willing to pay for quality products.

Three pillars of positioning Vietnamese rice brand

In the context of the international market increasingly placing strict requirements on standards, traceability and brand building, the strategy of improving quality is the path to survival and sustainability. This roadmap is oriented on three pillars. First of all, it is necessary to build a standardized production chain, closely linked from farm to table. This requires farmers and cooperatives to shift to order-based farming, strictly applying good agricultural practice standards such as VietGAP/GlobalGAP to create high-quality and uniform rice varieties. At the same time, it is necessary to promote research, develop new varieties and increase investment in post-harvest storage infrastructure, minimize loss and improve product quality.

Information transparency and traceability are not only trends but have become decisive factors to conquer demanding markets. The application of traceability codes and electronic records for each shipment, along with strict quality control from input to post-harvest, will increase the trust of international partners and consumers. This is also an opportunity for the Vietnamese rice industry to take advantage of the global digitalization trend, even researching the real asset tokenization model (RWA) - an emerging technology in the blockchain field - to make all information transparent and create new values.

In addition, for Vietnamese rice to be able to make a breakthrough, improving its competitiveness is a must. This requires standardizing quality audits, obtaining prestigious international certifications and close cooperation with independent inspection organizations. This is the "ticket" for Vietnamese rice to conquer the most demanding markets such as the EU, Japan, Korea, and the US. The Prime Minister's telegram also directed the development of the national brand "Vietnam Rice" to become a strategic task, which the Prime Minister emphasized the need to be "more rapid" in exporting high-quality rice to maintain Vietnam's position.

Enterprises need to proactively invest in modern processing technology and build strong brands.

From a business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung, Director of Viet Quang Import Export Joint Stock Company (Can Tho) shared practical experience: "The initial investment cost for applying high quality standards and traceability systems can be expensive, but in the long run, it helps us sell products at better prices and build strong trust with partners. Closely linking with farmers along the value chain, providing seeds, processes and product consumption is a sustainable solution to ensure consistent quality and stable supply."

In particular, Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong, an economic expert, said that sustainable rice export requires close coordination between the State, businesses and farmers. Only when these three pillars act in unison can we create a real boost for the rice industry. The State needs to continue to improve the export policy framework, build a mechanism to support businesses in transformation (promoting trade promotion, quick tax refunds to free up capital, technical support), and closely monitor the domestic market to avoid price gouging and protect farmers' rights. Businesses need to proactively invest in modern processing technology, build strong brands, sign long-term contracts with partners, carry out reasonable temporary storage to stabilize the market and actively seek and diversify export markets. Farmers and cooperatives need to change their production mindset, shifting from pure output to standard farming, applying traceability, and increasing the value per kilogram of rice through close links with businesses.

If Vietnam synchronously implements the "from field to shelf" strategy - transparent, branded and meeting international standards - Vietnamese rice will not only maintain its traditional market but also expand to high-value channels, contributing to raising the national agricultural product brand on the global commodity map, affirming its solid position in the global food supply chain./.

Source: https://vtv.vn/gao-viet-chuyen-minh-tu-luong-sang-chat-100251004183937215.htm