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PROJECT “NETWORK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
THINK-TAKS FOR COUNTRIES IN MEKONG-SUB REGION” (NARDT)

2.2.2 The situation of trade in each country
a. The value of rice exports
Among all four countries in the region, Vietnam and Thailand continue to
be the largest rice exporters, however Thailand is witnessing a dramatical decrease
whreas Cambodia is the only country having a stable increase in the rice export from
the 2016 – 2020 period and Lao has an insignificant exported value (Figure 11). Over
the past 5 years, Thailand has witnessed a dramatic decrease in both value and volume
of rice export. In 2020, the total rice export is 5.69 million tons which decreased 42%
from 9.8 million tons in 2015, and the value decrease from 4.56 billion USD to 3.69
billion USD in 2020. In contrast, Vietnam export rised from 2.8 billion to 3.1 billion USD
in the same period. By 2020, Viet Nam’s rice sector not only provides enough food to
ensure national food security but also exports to more than 167 markets, accounting
for 11% of total rice exports in the world, raising Viet Nam in the 3 of the top rice
rd
exporters after India and Thailand.
The decrease indicates Thai rice is likely to be less competitive, particularly
for white rice in African markets, which accounts for approximately 40-50 percent of
total rice exports over the past five years (USDA, 2019). In African markets, there is
also strong competition from Viet Nam and China. During 2017 – 2018, government
rice stock sales have been the main strategy to boost the export of Thai rice, which
reached a peak in 2017 at 5.15 million USD. The government sold off all of their
remaining rice stocks in 2018. For example, in the first two months of 2019, export
prices of Thai white rice were approximately U.S. USD40/MT higher than Vietnamese
rice, while in 2018 Thai rice was on average cheaper by U.S. USD10/MT (USDA, 2019).
However, the decrease of value is much lower than that of quantity indicating the
increase in export value of Thai rice.

On the other hand, Vietnam gradually moved from competition in low-value
product segments to high-value product segments. Over the past four years, Viet
Nam’s rice exports have increased sharply in terms of quality and brand recognition
in the international market while in the previous period, Viet Nam focused more on
increasing export quantity. Under the shift in export production strategy that focusing
on high-value products, rice exports have achieved positive achievements, reached
USD3.1 billion with an output of 6.2 tons in 2020.
Figure 16: The value and volumne of rice exports in 4 countries 2015 - 2020
Value Volumne

Source: General Department of Viet Nam Customs, WITS, Trademap (2022), MAFF
Annual Report (2020), Lao PDR Department of Agriculture (2022)
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