Vietnam spends over US$1 billion importing wheat in eight months
Vietnam spent more than US$1 billion importing approximately 3.64 million tonnes of wheat during the eight-month period, marking a sharp increase of 18.3% in volume but a fall of 6.7% in value, according to statistics released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Insiders attributed the rise in wheat imports to the fall occurring in terms of the average import price of wheat by 21.2% on-year.
With regards to import markets, Brazil, Australia, Ukraine, the United States, and Canada were all among the largest wheat suppliers to the Vietnamese market during the seven-month period.
The import volume of wheat increased sharply by 348.9% compared to the same period from last year, while import value also skyrocketed by nearly 205.9%.
Most notably, import volume from Ukraine to the Vietnamese market rose dramatically with volume reaching 612,800 tonnes, worth up to US$159.4 million. Ukraine surpassed the US and Canada to become the third largest supplier of wheat to Vietnam throughout the reviewed period.
Vietnam is currently one of the 10 largest wheat importers in the world. Last year saw the country spend up to US$1.9 billion to import about 5.5 million tonnes of wheat.
The import demand for wheat is attributable to the growing demand for wheat domestically, especially for the animal feed and food processing industries.
