The export price of Vietnamese rice has been on the upward trend over the past two weeks, reaching nearly US$600 per metric ton on Wednesday, after India banned rice export on July 20.

Vietnam’s 5-percent broken rice sold for $593 per metric ton on the same day, up $5 a metric ton day on day, according to the Vietnam Food Association.

Thailand quoted the price of the same rice type at $625 a metric ton.

The price of Vietnam’s 25-percent broken rice stood at $573 per metric ton, up $5 against the day earlier, and was $7 per metric ton higher than that of Thailand’s.

Jasmine rice was priced at $733 per metric ton on Wednesday, jumping $45 a metric ton day on day, and rocketing $110 against the price set on July 20.

Two weeks after India, the world’s largest rice exporter, imposed a ban on exports of non-basmati white rice, the prices of Vietnam’s 5-percent and 25-percent broken rice picked up $60 per metric ton each, while Thailand saw the prices of the two types climb $81 and $63 a metric ton, respectively.

Higher rice export prices pushed up the rate of unhusked rice in the Mekong Delta region.

Specifically, the price of raw OM 5451 fragrant rice rose to VND6,800-7,000 ($0.28-0.29) per kilogram, while that of raw Dai Thom grains improved VND6,900-7,100 ($0.29-0.3) per kilogram.

Given the rice price uptrend, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has written to the prime minister proposing the elevation of rice exports.

Speaking at a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Nguyen Nhu Cuong, head of the Department of Crop Production, said that global rice prices have been surging over the past few days, opening a wider door for Vietnam to shore up rice shipments.

This year, the country aims to cultivate 7.1 million hectares of rice to yield 43 million metric tons of raw rice.

The target is achievable, Cuong said.

To grasp the opportunity of rice exportation, the department has planned to raise the Mekong Delta region’s rice cultivation area in the autumn-winter crop to 700,000 hectares from 650,000 hectares.

Cuong underlined that Vietnam turned out over 42 million metric tons of raw rice in 2022, while exporting 7.13 million metric tons of rice.

This year, the Southeast Asian nation set a target of producing more than 43 million metric tons of raw rice and shipping over 7.5 million metric tons of rice worth $4.1 billion.

“Rice exports may increase but domestic rice supply will not be affected,” said Cuong.

As of July, Vietnam had exported rice worth $2.58 billion, up 30 percent year on year, reporting the average rice price at $534 per metric ton, edging up 9.2 percent from the year-ago period.

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