Average rice export prices dipped by 10.6 percent in the first quarter, resulting in a 6-percent decline in revenues.
Vietnam exported 2.05 million tons of rice for US$1 billion, up 4.4 percent in volume but prices fell to $386.2 a ton due to abundant supply, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
On the global market, rice prices also dropped marginally in May, with Thai 5 percent broken rice being $5 per ton cheaper at $410-412 and Indian exports falling by $10 to $361-365.
Vietnam’s top market in the first quarter was the Philippines, whose imports increased by 63.8 percent year-on-year to 672,142 tons.
Domestic prices remained unchanged in May, however. In the southern An Giang Province, normal rice was sold at VND11,000 ($0.48) a kilogram and jasmine rice at VND15,000.