Rice preference in Vietnam: Cambodian and Thai rice ... not Yuon rice

Cambodian and Thai rice is sold in large quantities in Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta. Despite producing most of Vietnam’s rice, Mekong residents are showing an increasing partiality for foreign grains. (Photo: SGGP)

Mekong locals show preference for foreign rice

Thursday ,Dec 24,2009
Saigon Giai Phong (Yuon Communist Party)

While the “Buy Vietnamese” campaign has boosted production and consumption of many local products, a paradox exists in the Mekong Delta where foreign rice floods the market and residents prefer it to domestic varieties, an SGGP inquiry has found.

At a border market in the province of An Giang, one of the leading granaries in the region, it is hard to find grown-in-Vietnam rice. Most stalls sell Cambodian and Thai brands instead.

Asked why she does not sell domestic rice, Tran Hong Diem, a trader at Tinh Bien market pointed to bags of Cambodian rice explaining: “This rice is sweet-smelling and delicious, so people here prefer it.”

As a result, traders in the Mekong mainly sell imported rice, at a rate of 80-90 percent of the total trade, she said.

Truong Thi Dang, a rice seller in Tinh Bien District, elaborated: “Pac Tam or Soc rice from Cambodia sells at just VND8,000 per kg but tastes good, while domestically produced rice ranges between VND7,500-8,500 and even over VND10,000 for some kinds; but it is inferior in quality.”

Therefore, the number of families opting for foreign rice is increasingly growing, she said. While many farmers grow domestic rice varieties like IR 50404, they sell the harvested crops to traders and buy Cambodian rice to eat instead, she added.

“It is quite simple,” said Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, a resident in the district’s Xuan To commune. “Since living conditions have now improved, many families have shifted from ‘eat to fill’ to ‘eat ambrosia’.

A large quantity of Cambodian and Thai rice can also be found in many border markets in Chau Doc, Khanh Binh and Vinh Xuong – all in An Giang Province; or in other border areas like Hong Ngu and Tan Hong in Dong Thap Province; and in Ha Tien of Kien Giang Province.

Even in provinces far from border areas like Can Tho, Vinh Long and Tien Giang, it is easy to find imported rice for sale.

“In Can Tho, if you ask traders which kinds of rice are best-sellers, the answer is likely to be: Cambodian rice,” said Tran Thanh Hao, a rice trader in Tinh Bien.

In addition, thousands of tons of paddy are brought from Cambodia into Vietnam daily via Tinh Bien, where many agents sell wholesale Cambodian and Thai paddy to traders in other provinces.

After husking paddy, traders sell them to rice markets in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighboring provinces, said Nguyen Thi Tuyet, a trader from Long An province.

Local high-yield varieties of paddy like IR 50404 or OM 3217 is mainly sold to enterprises to make rice for export instead of for domestic consumption, she said.

Quality, not quantity

“Foreign rice flooding domestic markets is a reality, but we have yet to seek out suitable ways to cope with it,” said Deputy Chairman of An Giang Province People's Commitee, Huynh The Nang.

“Specific areas for growing high-quality rice have yet to be set up, so it is inevitable for local rice to be overwhelmed by foreign grains, like higher-quality Cambodian and Thai rice,” he said.

Concerned agencies must address the fact that people in the country’s “rice cradle” have turned their back on domestic grains, and seek solutions to the problem, Mr. Nang said.

A balance is needed between rice for export and rice for local consumption, and more high-quality paddy-growing areas need to be set up quickly, he added.

If the country is to step up consumption of made-in-Vietnam rice, it should not prioritize quantity but must focus instead on measures to improve rice quality, such as expanding growing areas for high-quality rice like Nang Huong, Nang Nhang and Tam Xoan, said Prof. Vo Tong Xuan, former headmaster of An Giang University.

Vietnamese rice farmers are hurt by cheap, high quality rice from Cambodia

Rice farmers need practical solutions

Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

Vietnamese rice farmers are being hurt again.

The news about how cheap, high quality rice from Cambodia is suddenly being transported through the border at An Giang Province at an alarming rate reaffirms that the country’s farmers are very vulnerable.

In the fierce competition against farmers in Thailand and other countries where farmers are supported by innovative farming technologies, it seems as if Vietnamese farmers are in this fight alone.

Farmers from Vietnam’s rice bowl are now stuck with thousands of tons of IR50404 variety rice harvested from their fall-winter crop.

They thought rice dealers would be interested and were not expecting them to buy fragrant rice like Jasmine or Khaodawkmali for only VND5,000- 5,300 (US$0.29-0.31) per kilogram.

Here’s part of the problem: Vietnamese prefer high-quality rice while its domestic farmers often grow the variety that simply doesn’t taste as good, such as the IR50404.

Domestic rice companies often import better quality rice and then resell it.

In Thailand, the price for its Thai White Rice Grade B dipped from $770 per ton in August to $720 in September and then to the current $580.

Then countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia have refocused to increase production in a bid to meet domestic consumption and prevent future food shortages.

A dealer told The Bangkok Post that Thailand has had trouble selling rice in the Philippines since that country was already flooded with at least 600,000 tons of Vietnamese rice.

That’s why the Thai government had to announce at the end of September its plan to buy 8 million tons of unhusked rice at above market prices.

A kilogram of Khaodawkmali 105 unhusked rice is being sold at VND7,800; white rice at VND6,800 and Thai glutinous rice at VND5,830 per kilo.

Perhaps the amount that was transported to Vietnam is leftover from the unsold stockpiles in the Thai government’s buyout plan offered to its farmers.

There has been also criticism over Vietnamese farmers continuing to growing IR50404 rice which has a 15- 25 percent broken grain rate.

IR50404 is easier to grow and yields higher output, unlike the Jasmin 825 variety. So it’s understandable why Vietnamese farmers prefer IR50404.

We often saw officials suggesting that farmers not grow IR50404 but who can guarantee that the rice will sell faster if they choose to grow higher-quality varieties?

Farmers are left with no choice and must go with something stable.

For domestic food export companies: why not localize an area in which farmers can grow rice of preferable quality?

For the government: why not actively bring our rice to customers, no matter where they are located?

Thailand brings its unhusked rice to be processed in La Camarque in France. They are working on packaging and bringing their rice to Europe’s supermarkets.

We can do the same. Our companies in the seafood industry have been able to bring our products to Europe? Why are we not doing that with rice?

By Vo Tong Xuan

*Vo Tong Xuan is the former rector of An Giang University. He was recently awarded the Dioscoro L. Umali Achievement Award for Agricultural Development.

Cross border trade shows VN demand for high quality rice

Motor-tricycles loaded with large bags of Cambodian and Thai rice park near Xuan To bridge

15/11/2008

VietNamNet Bridge - Long lines of motor-tricycles loaded with large bags of rice are parked near the Xuan To Bridge in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang that lies on the border with Cambodia. These tricycles have transported rice from Cambodia into Vietnam and are waiting for traders to collect it.

On the Vinh Te canal, ships loaded with rice from Cambodia are berthed close together. At least five large purchase points have recently been set up near the canal to purchase rice from Cambodian traders for supplying local markets.

Each point has its own team of stevedores. Po Tha, a Cambodian stevedore, says, “Our team consists of 30 members. We carry over 300 tons of rice from storehouses to ships every day.”

“It’s estimated that 1,500 tons of rice are transported to An Giang Province from Cambodia through Tinh Bien border gate daily,” says Giang Lam, deputy director of the Tinh Bien Border Customs. “Most of them are Khaodak Mali, a long- grain rice variety from Thailand and a small- grain rice variety from Cambodia. Both are good varieties of rice whose flavor, aroma and softness suit the taste of the local people.”

In fact, traders from provinces throughout the Mekong Delta, southern granary of Vietnam, flock to the purchase points to buy rice. Khaodak Mali is sold at VND5.300 a kilo and the Cambodian small-grain rice at VND 5,000 per kilo. After they are unhusked, the rice will be distributed through wholesale channels to retailers in the provinces of Tien Giang, Long An, Dong Thanh, and Can Tho; and in HCM City.

Tran Thanh Hao, a rice retailer in Tinh Bien, says farmers in the Mekong Delta grow high- yielding rice like IR50401 and 3217 to supply the local market, but now more and more Vietnamese consumers buy Thai and Cambodian rice because of both their taste and prices.

In fact, Tinh Bien is not the only border gate through which a large volume of Thailand and Cambodian rice are transported to Vietnam everyday. Thousands of tons are finding their way into Vietnamese markets through other Southwestern border gates including Khanh Binh and Vinh Xuong in An Giang Province, Thuong Phuoc in Dong Thap Province and Ha Tien in Kien Giang Province.

The imports from Thailand and Cambodia prove there is a large demand in the local market for high quality, tasty rice.

However, the nation’s famed rice granary, Mekong Delta, grows high quality rice for export and high-yielding rice for the local market, while consumers are demanding rice of better quality.

If the national agricultural sector can not supply rice of the quality desired by consumers, they will have little choice but to seek other sources in other countries. Consumers can not be forced to eat rice of lower quality all the time, market observers say.

Huynh The Nang, deputy chairman of the An Giang Province People’s Committee, says that agricultural production in the Mekong delta so far has only paid attention to growing high-grade rice for export, and that it is time for the provincial authorities shifted their attention to local demand.

He added that relevant authorities in the agricultural and trading sectors should reconsider the structure of export and local markets for rice and work together to prepare a proper plan to boost production in the coming winter-spring crop to serve both markets.