Vietnam Imports Rice from India for the first time 

Vietnam Imports Rice from India for the first time 

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – International relations; GS-III – Trade

In news 

• Vietnam has started buying rice from India for the first time in decades after its local prices jumped to their highest in nine years amid limited domestic supplies.

Key takeaways 

• The purchases underscore tightening supplies in Asia, which could lift rice prices in 2021. 
• It could even force traditional buyers of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to switch to India which is the world’s biggest exporter of the Rice.
• Dwindling supplies and continued Philippine buying have lifted Vietnamese rice export prices to a fresh nine-year high. 
• The reducing supplies will increase concerns about food insecurity with sub-Saharan Africa among the areas where import demand has been increasing partly due to population growth.
• global pandemic has also prompted Vietnam and other countries to stockpile rice

Do you know? 

• In 2020 India exported a record 14 million tonnes of rice. 
• In December, the world’s biggest rice importer China started buying Indian rice for the first time in at least three decades due to tightening supplies from Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam and an offer of sharply discounted prices.
• Vietnam is the world’s third biggest exporter of rice.