Vietnam may cut rice production area due to low prices

Vietnam will consider cutting the area under rice cultivation if prices of the grain fall further, the country’s agriculture minister said, as farmers struggle to offload their new harvest due to weak demand and strict coronavirus movement curbs.

“We have to consider plans to reduce the rice growing area to make way for other crops that are more profitable,” Le Minh Hoan said in a statement posted on the government’s website late on Tuesday.

Prices for Vietnam’s 5% broken rice have fallen to around $390 per tonne, the lowest since February 2020, due to weak demand. Vietnam is the world’s third-largest exporter of the commodity after India and Thailand.

Hoan did not say by how much Vietnam planned to cut the rice production area, but state media reports cited the ministry as saying earlier this year that it could cut the rice growing area by 5.4% to 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres) by 2030.

“We cannot place farmers at risk to fulfil our rice export target,” Hoan said.