On the morning of November 4, Đỗ Hà Nam, chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said the Philippine government had officially issued an SPS import permit for Vietnamese rice. The permit applies only to fragrant rice with 25% broken grains, not the 5% broken rice covered in previous years.
It is the end of the year, and several other markets are also increasing imports. The Philippine decision has added to demand for Vietnamese rice, while Vietnam's supply for the final two months of the year is limited. As a result, the price of Vietnamese rice with 25% broken grains has risen above $500 per ton. Prices of other products have also increased with overall market demand.
The increase is expected to continue into 2027 because of the impact of a very strong El Niño. VFA chairman Đỗ Hà Nam said that the current market supported the association's call in August for exporters to keep rice prices above $500 per ton. He said the association would continue urging businesses to work together to protect the interests of rice companies and Vietnamese farmers.
In the Mekong Delta rice-growing region, several businesses said rice and paddy prices had been rising daily in early November as market demand increased. Nguyễn Vĩnh Trọng, director of Việt Hưng Co. Ltd. in Đồng Tháp, said the price of fragrant rice with 25% broken grains was rising fastest after the Philippines issued the permit. The price had reached $540 per ton, up $50 to $60 from the end of the previous month.
The Philippine permit covers 300,000 tons from Vietnam in November. The country's recent policy has been to diversify supplies and reduce dependence on Vietnamese rice. The Philippines has also sharply increased rice imports from Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar.
Phan Mai Hương, co-founder of the rice market website SS Rice News, said Vietnamese rice currently had advantages in quality, price and supply capacity. She said Thailand had also been badly affected by El Niño, Pakistani rice was of very low quality, and Myanmar could not guarantee supply capacity.
So far, the Philippines has imported 4.07 million tons of rice, a sharp increase from the same period last year but still well below the US Department of Agriculture's forecast of 5.5 million tons. Philippine rice import demand is expected to rise to 5.6 million tons in 2027.
Sources: Thanh Niên
