ST24 and ST25 exports sharply increase thanks to demands from China and the US

According to the General Department of Customs, in the first six months of this year, Vietnam's rice exports reached nearly 3 million tons with a value of USD 1.64 billion, down 14.8% in volume and 4.7% in value compared to the same period last year.

Despite the decrease, Vietnam still ranks second in terms of rice exports in the world, because, in the first half of this year, Thailand only exported 2.2 million tons of rice with a value of USD 1.38 billion, down 21%. in volume and 28.1% in value over the same period in 2020.

It is worth noting that although the total rice exports decreased, Vietnam's fragrant rice exports continued to grow. Specifically, in the first six months of 2021, the export amount of fragrant rice reached nearly 1.16 million tons, an increase of about 6.2% over the same period last year and accounting for nearly 39% of the country’s total rice export volume (up compared to 30% of the same period).

In several markets, fragrant rice accounts for the majority of Vietnam's total rice exports. For example, in May 2021, Vietnam exported 1.6 thousand tons of rice, worth USD 1.1 million to the US market, having fragrant rice as the main product with 0.9 thousand tons, worth USD 0.7 million. Also during the mentioned period, fragrant rice was also Vietnam's main export product to the EU, reaching 3.2 thousand tons, worth USD 2.3 million (accounting for 62.4% in volume and 60.0% in volume of the rice exports to EU).

Along with other fragrant rice that has been strongly exported for many years such as Jasmine 85, DT8,… the export of the two rice types ST24 and ST25 (World's best rice in 2019) has experienced very strong growth. In the past six months, about 38,300 tons of ST24 rice and 2,700 tons of ST25 rice were exported, respectively up 11.5 and 154.7 times over the same period last year. Of which, nearly 90% of ST 24 rice (about 34,000 tons) is exported to China and 95% (2,500 tons) of ST25 rice is exported to the US market.

According to the information from the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the export volume of ST24 and ST25 rice has increased because the supply is gradually improving while the markets are still in high demand. In 2019, when ST25 rice won the world's best rice award, Technician Ho Quang Cua (creator of ST25 rice) took 4-5 months to propagate and about a year later to harvest. By 2021, more ST25 rice has been sold to the market.

Furthermore, Vietnam still boosts the promotion of these two types of rice, so that ST24 and ST25 can be known more in many markets. But due to limited supply, the export volume of ST24 and ST25 rice is still quite humble.

Other than the US, the EU market is also interested in ST25 rice. However, among the nine types of fragrant rice exported from Vietnam to the EU, which enjoys preferential tariffs within the quota of 30,000 tons after the EVFTA comes into effect, ST25 rice is not included. The reason is that Vietnam and the EU had negotiated the EVFTA many years ago. At that time, the nine types of fragrant rice included in the EU list of preferential treatment under tariff quotas were all popular rice varieties in Vietnam. Meanwhile, ST25 rice had only been known widely since 2019 after winning the world's best rice competition.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the list of Vietnamese fragrant rice exported to the EU under tariff quotas is not a fixed and permanent list but can be adjusted and added new varieties if Vietnam proposed and the EU has the need to import.