On 18th April 2011, at the Ministry of Industry and Trade headquarter, Minister Vu Huy Hoang and Minister of Food and Disaster Management of Bangladesh Muhammad Abdur Razzaque signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam’s government and Bangladesh’s government on rice trade.
The memorandum between the two governments would present as the legal foundation for establishing the stable rice trade relationship, helping to develop the strategic partnership of food supply between Vietnam and Bangladesh. Thereby, Vietnam would continue affirming its position as one of the leading rice providers, raising Vietnam’s active role in ensuring food security regionally and internationally.
In the atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding, the two ministers discussed the economic – trade relationship between Vietnam and Bangladesh in the past time and reviewed the results gained. At the same time, they put forward measures to boost cooperation on industry and trade between the two sides, especially in the field of rice trade. The two sides also agreed to take advantage of the fine political relationship between the two countries, taking it as the driving force to promote multi-faceted cooperation in the coming time.
Bangladesh is a big market in the Southern Asian countries with the population of 165 million people. The Vietnam – Bangladesh trade relationship is developing in a good way. The two-way trade turn-over in 2010 reached 288 million USD, up 250% as compared with 2009. In which, Vietnamese exports attained 253.27 million USD, increasing by 325.3% in comparison with 2009. Main export items were rice, iron and steel, yarn, fabrics, machines, spare parts, plastic materials, mobile phones, etc… Among these products, rice was found to account for the biggest share, making up 46% of the Vietnam’s total export turn-over to Bangladesh in 2010.
Although Bangladesh is the fourth biggest rice producer in the world, with the output of over 30 million tons per year; the domestic rice production is not enough for consumption because of rapid population growth, natural disasters such as drought, flood, tornadoes which occur frequently in the country. Moreover, the economic restructuring towards the direction of less dependence on agriculture along with lean harvests have led to a fact that Bangladesh’s food production fails to meet the domestic demand. Bangladesh imported 2-3 million tons of food in 2009.
In the meeting, Bangladesh expressed their great interest in Vietnamese rice to replace partially the parboiled rice with limited supply and high price. Additionally, Vietnam also has advantages in price and geographical distance, etc… Bangladesh’s market and consumers are satisfied with Vietnam’s rice quality; the simple preparing way and the flavor of white rice are in line with people’s tastes. In 2010, rice export from Vietnam to Bangladesh gained a dramatic growth, reaching approximately 120 million USD, with more than 350,000 tons of rice varieties. In the coming time, Vietnam would further expand the production of parboiled rice to ensure food supply for the great market of Bangladesh.
During his working visit to Vietnam, Minister of Food and Disaster Management of Bangladesh also paid courtesy calls on to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat and visited the Hanoi University of Agriculture.
Africa, Western and Southern Asia Market Department (moit.gov.vn)
