Vietnam Parboiled rice

Vietnamese exporters were hoping that parboiled rice would give them a helping hand considering the difficulties faced in rice production and export.

Parboiled rice refers to the grain that has been partially boiled in the husk, boosting its nutritional profile and changing its texture.

Parboiled rice thus fetches higher export prices than traditionally processed kinds.

Arup Kumar Gupta, general director of VAP Foods Co. Ltd., said the global commercial volumes of rice amount to 35 – 36 million tonnes per year, including 5-6 million tonnes of parboiled rice.

Some 70 per cent of the latter now comes from Thailand and India, but Viet Nam has a price advantage over Thailand, while India's incoherent export policy makes its products less competitive, Gupta said.

Viet Nam also has the advantage of being a traditional exporter of several popular varieties of rice, he said.

Parboiled rice often costs 30-50 per cent more than white rice. Through a process consisting of soaking, steaming, drying, and hardening, it is protected against insects and nutrients are retained.

Parboiled rice is consumed in West Africa, the Middle East, South America, and some Asian countries.

There are currently two rice parboiling plants in Viet Nam, one operated by the HCM City-based Vinh Phat JSC in the Mekong province of An Giang and the other by a Thai company in Tien Giang Province.

VAP, a joint venture between the Viet Nam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) and Auro Capital and Phoenix Commodities, is investing $15 million to build a 500-tonne plant in Long An Province which will go on stream in July.

"This is a prime time to invest in processing parboiled rice in Viet Nam," Gupta told a meeting last week.

But it is not easy for local firms to break into the global market because it is dominated by Thailand and India, he warned.

Nguyen Tho Tri, deputy CEO of Vinafood 2, added it is not simple also because it is dominated by many major multinational groups.

According to the Viet Nam Food Association, in the first quarter Viet Nam exported 16,400 tonnes of parboiled rice, accounting for 1.13 per cent of Viet Nam's total rice exports.