The Vietnamese government said in a document detailing its rice export strategy that Vietnam aims to reduce rice exports to 4 million tons a year by 2030 from 7.1 million tons last year.
Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter after India and Thailand. The move aims to “promote the export of high-quality rice, ensure domestic food security, protect the environment and adapt to climate change,” according to a government document dated May 26 and seen by Reuters.
Revenue from rice exports will fall to $2.62 billion a year by 2030 from $3.45 billion in 2022, the document said.
“Although rice acreage in Vietnam is shrinking due to climate change and some farmers are switching to other crops and shrimp farming, this strategy seems too aggressive,” a rice trader in Ho Chi Minh City said on Saturday.
Some rice farmers in the Mekong Delta are converting some of their fields into fruit farms, growing mangoes, grapefruit, jackfruit and durian, but the vast majority still rely on rice, the trader said.
There has been a trend towards shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta for many years due to a significant increase in salinity in the Mekong Delta due to rising sea water triggered by climate change.
Vietnam will diversify its rice export markets to reduce dependence on any country, the government document said. The Philippines has long been Vietnam’s biggest rice buyer, accounting for 45 percent of last year’s shipments.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Thanh told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at a regional meeting in Indonesia this month that Vietnam was willing to supply rice to the Philippines for a long time at a reasonable price.
According to the document, by 2025, 60 percent of Vietnam’s rice exports will be shipped to Asian markets, 22 percent to Africa, 7 percent to the United States, 4 percent to the Middle East and 3 percent to Europe.
The Vietnam Food Association, which represents rice processors and exporters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vietnam will focus on producing high-quality, glutinous rice while reducing production of low-quality grains to 15 percent of total output by 2025 and 10 percent by 2030, the government said. “I doubt that the strategy will work because rice production depends on supply and demand rather than government decisions,” said another rice trader in An Giang province in the Mekong Delta.
Vietnam’s rice exports rose 40.7 percent year-on-year to 2.9 million tonnes in the first four months of this year, according to government customs data.