Vietnamese rice won top prize at the World’s Best Rice competition
WVR - At the 2023 International World Rice Conference, organized by The Rice Trader in the Philippines, Vietnamese rice was honored with the first prize as the "World's Best Rice." Second and third places went to Cambodian and Indian rice, respectively.
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The fact that Vietnamese rice once again won top prize in a global rice competition is an encouraging sign for the development of the Vietnamese rice brand, boosting expectations for increased growth in rice exports in the coming period.
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| Vietnamese rice won top prize at at the World’s Best Rice competition, organized by The Rice Trader. (Photo: Loc Troi) |
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there were 3 Vietnamese enterprises participated in the competition this year with six types of rice: Ho Quang Tri private enterprise entered the competition with ST24 and ST25 rice; Loc Troi Group submitted Loc Troi 28 and Nang Hoa 9 rice; ThaiBinh Seed with TBR39 and TBR39_1 rice. Therefore, the organizers honored Vietnamese rice overall rather than any specific types from different companies.
On November 30, held as part of the 15th Annual TRT International World Rice Conference in Cebu, Philippines, the Rice Trader officially awarded Vietnam as The World’s Best Rice of 2023. All the 3 Vietnamese representatives clinched this prestigious award with their six rice varieties.
On December 1st, according to The Rice Trader’s statement, the "World's Best Rice 2023" competition gathered over 30 rice varieties from 10 countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, India, the Philippines, among others. The top three finalists were Cambodia (the 2022 champion) with fragrant rice, Vietnam (former champion) with fragrant rice, and for the first time, India entered the finals with Basmati rice.
Mr. Jeremy Zwinger, President of The Rice Trader affirmed that, the winner is unanimously selected by judges who are world-leading chefs (using a secret ballot method).
“The outstanding winner of the World's Best Rice 2023 belongs to Vietnam, and we extend heartfelt congratulations to the Vietnamese rice industry for their relentless efforts to achieve this level, along with the tremendous efforts of all individuals", he added.
In fact, winning the World’s Best Rice competition has significantly increased Vietnamese rice brand’s publicity. For instance, after ST25 rice was honored as the best rice in the world in 2019, it continuously gained export deals to demanding markets such as the UK, Australia, Japan, with quantities unable to meet the demand.
Loc Troi Group previously had Hat Ngoc Troi rice in the top 3 for the best rice in the world in 2015, which served as a valuable foundation for Loc Troi's rice to build a successful brand.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in November, estimated rice exports reached 700,000 tons valued at 462 million USD, bringing the total volume and value of rice exports in the 11 months of 2023 to 7.75 million tons and 4.41 billion USD, respectively, increasing by 16.2% in volume and 36.3% in value compared to the same period in 2022.
Notably, by mid-November, rice export results surpassed the entirety of 2022 (7.1 million tons and $3.45 billion).
Moreover, Vietnam’s rice also has high export prices. It is currently holding steady at 658 USD per ton for about a month now (as of November 21, the price increased to 663 USD per ton but then reverted back to 658 USD per ton and has remained stable at this level).
Notably, the rice types and the quality of exported rice continue to align with the Strategy on rice export market development until 2030, aiming to increase the value of rice.
With these positive results, the success story of Vietnamese rice once again emphasizes the necessity of building a national rice brand from such beneficial "stepping stones."
Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, the question posed by Nguyen Duy Thuan, CEO of Loc Troi Group: "Why isn't Vietnamese rice appearing on the world market with the Vietnamese National Brand?" will have a clear answer.
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