AFRICA IS EXPECTED TO IMPORT 17.7 MILLION TONS OF RICE THIS YEAR, VIETNAM IS ONE OF 4 MAJOR MARKETS.

According to the Asia-Africa Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Africa's main source of imported rice in the coming time will still focus on four markets including Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Thailand.

In 2023, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast, Africa's rice production in the 2022/2023 crop is forecast to reach 24.3 million tons, an increase of 1.7% compared to the 2021/2022 crop. Of which, North Africa is estimated at 3.6 million tons, up 23.7% and sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at 20.7 million tons, down 1.2%.

USDA also estimates that the total rice consumption and reserves in Africa in 2023 will reach over 42.2 million tons, an increase of more than 570,000 tons compared to 2022. Of which, North Africa will reach about 4.4 million tons. An increase of 50,000 tons; sub-Saharan Africa reached about 37.5 million tons, an increase of 300,000 tons.

According to information from the Asia-Africa Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, to meet the demand for rice estimated at over 42.2 million tons in 2023, Africa is expected to import about 17.7 million tons, down. 4.5%. The reason for the reduction in rice imports in 2023 is that from the second half of 2022, many countries in Africa have actively imported rice for storage, in case food prices continue to rise due to the consequences of the conflict between Russia and the United States. Ukraine stretched.

Regarding the market, in the coming time, Africa's main imported rice supply will still focus mainly on India, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam. The main types of rice imported by African countries include fragrant rice, white rice and broken rice.

Currently, imported rice plays an important role in Africa's food security, despite the efforts of many countries towards self-sufficiency.

In the past years, although the area of rice cultivation in Africa has been expanded, the post-harvest rice production in these countries is still low compared to the world and is limited by a number of factors such as low-quality rice varieties, little improvement, erratic weather conditions, underdeveloped agricultural infrastructure, limited resources, pests, production processes, harvesting, processing and poorly maintained...

In general, Africa's rice production is not expected to catch up with the growth in rice consumption and population growth in the region.