Vietnam cut down on corn and rice

Introduction: due to the low price of rice, Vietnam's feed processing plants are using locally produced rice and rice by-products to produce feed, so Vietnam's corn import is likely to decrease in the near future, according to Asian trade firm Thursday Vietnam is the second largest rice exporter in the world It is trying to achieve its overseas sales target in the context of low global rice prices According to feed processing plants, the low domestic rice prices make rice by-products more cost-effective than imported corn In addition, the local Vietnamese corn harvest has just been completed, which also deterred the corn importers "Rice and by-products are very popular as ingredients for feed production in Vietnam this year because of low domestic rice prices due to weak export demand," Cary siferath, regional director for Asia at the U.S grain Council, told Reuters from Kuala Lumpur Siferath, who has just returned to Kuala Lumpur from a visit to Vietnam, said Vietnam's rice exports in 2001 were expected to be slightly higher than 300000 tons, compared with 350000 tons previously expected In 2000, Vietnam imported 200000 tons of corn The Hanoi based grain trader said, "now there are some local corn supplies, which are enough to meet local demand I don't think we will import a lot of corn in the next month " According to a source familiar with the US grain trade, Vietnam's domestic corn production in 2001 is expected to be about the same as that in 2000, between 1.3 million tons and 1.4 million tons Vu khoan, Vietnam's trade minister, said the country would meet its rice export target of 4 million tons in 2001 Last year, Vietnam's rice export shipments decreased by more than 10% compared with the previous year "The feed industry has a strong demand for feed ingredients," said one feed processor If this year's output growth does not reach the previously expected 10 percentage points, it may reach 3 to 5 percentage points " Vietnam produced 2.4 million tons of commercial feed in 2000 * supply is still a question mark Vietnam imports most of the corn it needs from China, but grain traders say they will wait to see this year's procurement model once the domestic corn harvest comes to an end from next month "It will be interesting to see if Vietnam can import most of the corn it needs from China this year," said one trader High local corn prices in China, combined with lower supply, have prompted many Asian Importers to look for alternative supplies, such as corn from Argentina and Thailand "There may be several ships of Argentine corn or American corn exported to Vietnam this year," said one trader But that will only happen if all efforts to buy Chinese corn fail " Traders in Asia say Vietnam may start looking for corn in mid July "But most of the corn they may be looking for will be from August onwards," said one trader Grain traders added that some importers could enter the market earlier if global corn prices weaken "Vietnam is studying the supply of excess corn," said one trader Global weather and its impact on prices will determine the corn purchase in Vietnam " On Wednesday, CBOT corn futures closed up 3 cents per bushel, with traders expecting us corn crop ratings to improve as weather conditions in the Midwest corn belt are favorable In China, due to recent rainfall and farmers' switch from soybean to corn, many traders believe that China's corn production will reach 110 million tons to 115 million tons next year, up from 105 million tons last year Some people used to worry that China's corn production might be flat in 2001, or even less than 100 million tons.