This result shows that for the first time, Vietnam has become the largest rice export partner to Singapore, surpassing Thailand, India and Japan – the largest competitors in the Singapore rice market. However, Vietnamese rice businesses still have a lot of work to do to maintain their position in the Singapore market.
Besides Vietnam’s traditional strong product, white rice, there are two other product groups, sticky rice and milled or peeled fragrant rice, which also dominate the majority of the market share in Singapore, reaching 80.08% and 80.08% respectively. 73.33%. This is the main factor helping Vietnam become the country with the largest rice market share in Singapore.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, the trend of a sharp increase in Singapore’s rice import demand from 2023 will continue to be maintained in the first 3 months of 2024 due to two main reasons: India’s ban on rice exports and the recovery of rice from India. Quickly restore the number of tourists to Singapore. Recently, Vietnamese businesses have taken good advantage of India’s ban on rice exports to increase market share and export value to Singapore. Therefore, basically, to sustainably maintain the position of the largest partner, Vietnamese businesses still have a lot of work to do.
Talking to VNA reporters, Vietnam Trade Counselor in Singapore Cao Xuan Thang emphasized that in addition to supporting and updating local policy mechanisms for domestic businesses, local ministries and agencies, Business associations also need to try to increase the presence of Vietnamese rice products in the Singapore market, actively participate in trade promotion activities, support brand promotion, and maintain quality. Rice products – an important factor to maintain a long-term position in the Singapore market.
According to Mr. Cao Xuan Thang, countries such as Thailand, Japan, and India are also very interested in investing in promoting product images as well as having agreements with importers and distributors on keeping names and brands. goods brand. Meanwhile, Vietnamese rice export enterprises are considered to have little potential and do not actively invest in promoting and introducing products, so importers and distribution systems in Singapore mainly import rice. Vietnamese raw materials are then packaged with Singapore’s domestic designs, packaging and brands for easy consumption in the market. Therefore, to maintain their position in the long term, businesses must consider building product brands.
In fact, Vietnamese rice is quite popular in Singapore. A customer at Cold Fresh supermarket while paying for a bag of “Product of Vietnam” rice shared: “Everyone in my family likes this type of rice, because the rice is sticky and fragrant.”
Mr. Cao Xuan Thang emphasized that to ensure that Vietnamese rice always has a place in a difficult and expensive market like Singapore, compliance with the host country’s regulations is very important. Therefore, businesses, associations, and industries should pay attention to regularly updating information about these regulations. Besides, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on rice between Vietnam and Singapore can also be an effective tool to maintain the number 1 position of Vietnamese rice products in the Singapore market.
