Surpassing Thailand, Vietnam became the second-largest rice exporter last year. This year, Vietnam could maintain its position.
According to a forecast of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Vietnam will export 6.4 million tonnes of rice in 2011, an increase of 233,000 tonnes compared with its rice export volume of 2020.
Meanwhile, Thailand will export 6.1 million tonnes of rice, nearly 400,000 tonnes more than that of last year. The USDA’s forecast is quite close to the rice export plan of Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce in which the country targeted to export 6 million tonnes.
USDA also projected India would export 15.5 million tonnes this year, marking an increase of 940,000 tonnes compared with that of last year.
So, it’s likely that India will still be the largest rice exporter in the world, Vietnam the second and Thailand the third.
China is projected to be the biggest rice importer in the world with the rice import volume of 2.9 million tonnes. It will be followed by the EU with 2.45 million tonnes and the Philippines with 2.2 million tonnes.