Vietnam exported nearly 4.2 million tons of rice in the first five months of 2024, worth approximately $2.7 billion, a year-on-year rise of nearly 15% in volume and over 38% in value, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed.

 The average export price reached $653.9 per ton, up 23.6% year-on-year.

According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the strong growth of the country's rice of Vietnam was attributed to increasing demand for food in  world markets, after India, the world’s largest rice exporter, banned the export of non-basmati white rice to curb its inflation rate.

Key markets like the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Ghana have increased rice imports from Vietnam.

Export prices of Vietnamese rice, however, have dropped by $5-8 per tons, according to the VFA.

The price of Vietnamese 5 per cent broken rice had decreased by $8 to $574 per ton while the Vietnamese 25 per cent broken rice had reduced by $5 to $552 per ton.

Vietnam set a target of rice export revenue of $5 billion in 2024, some $300 million higher than the value of 2023.