Rice exporting businesses and pineapple farmers in the Mekong Delta have been told to remain cautious in dealing with foreign traders, especially those from China.

Chinese traders collect pineapple in Tien Giang, Photo: Tuoi Tre

Truong Thanh Phong, CEO of Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, has recently asked the corporation’s subsidiaries to “be extremely wary when signing rice exporting contracts to China in order to avoid losses and unfortunate consequences.”

Phong said there are signs that the Chinese market is finding ways to cancel the signed contracts with Vietnamese rice exporters.

“They will use technical barriers to refuse to receive the products when they arrive at the ports, or cancel deals,” he said.

Moreover, some Chinese traders have asked local businesses to mix aromatic and white rice together in contracts signed to export aromatic rice.

“Businesses should not follow this request, in order to protect the Vietnamese rice quality and reputation,” the Vietnam Northern Food Corporation ordered.

According to the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA), export turnovers of Vietnamese aromatic rice in the first five months of this year reached 221,309 tons, up by 83.4 percent year on year.

“Vietnam now has a very competitive price on its aromatic rice compared to Thailand, sending customers towards its products,” VFA stated.

The agency also said total rice export turnover in Jan – May stood at 2.54 million tons, and was valued at US$1.16 billion, which is a 726,000-ton drop in volume, and a $381 million decline in value.

Beware, pineapple farmers

In a separate development, the People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has recently ordered its counterparts in Chau Thanh and Tan Phuoc districts to tell their local farmers to be careful when directly selling pineapple to Chinese traders.

The warning was issued in the wake of incidents in which many farmers incurred losses after some Chinese traders, who bought the products at prices higher than the market rate, suddenly vanished, leaving farmers with a huge unsold stock of the fruits, while prices have slumped as supply outstrips demand.

Authorities have also identified two Chinese nationals who have collected pineapples in the two districts over the last few months.

They are Zhang Wenbin, 49, and Chen Guoqiang, 31, who have joined hands with a fruit wholesale store called Tu Linh in Cai Be District to buy around 50 – 80 tons of pineapple a day to export to China.

The two have left the districts, local authorities said.

Source: tuoi tre