First batch of rice shipped to UK under UKVFTA

As many as 60 tons of Vietnamese rice are imported and sold in London, the United Kingdom on January 26, 2021, under the UK-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).

The top-quality fragrant rice was imported by the Long Dan Limited Company in the UK from the Viet Nam National Seed Group (Vinaseed), and the rice is now sold at GBP 15.5 (US$21.28) per kilogram at the firm's supermarket chain.

This is the first batch of rice shipped to the UK under the Viet Nam-UK Free Trade Agreement that took effect on December 31, 2020.

Earlier Vietnamese rice exported to the UK is subject to high tariffs of approximately 17.4%, making it more challenging to compete with other regional rivals such as India, Pakistan, and Thailand.

Now, the Southeast Asian country’s rice will gain competitive edge against others as it enjoys zero tariff.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam exported 617,000 tons of rice in 2019, a rise of 10% against 2018. Despite the rise, rice export volume to the UK remains modest at just 0.2%, ranking 22nd among the UK's largest rice exporters.

In 2019, Viet Nam gained nearly US$1.3 million from exporting 1,719 tons of rice to the UK.  

Due to impacts posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between Viet Nam and the UK fell by 15% to US$4.7 billion in the first 10 months of 2020, in which Viet Nam’s export to the UK declined by 14.9% to a bit more than US$4.1 billion compared to one year ago./.

By Thuy Dung