Building a national brand amid chaotic rice market

High demand: Workers load rice bags to a ship for export at a rice processing factory in Vietnam’s southern Mekong delta. The country’s rice export reached 456,768 tonnes in the first half of August. — Reuters

HANOI: India’s recent ban on rice exports has sent the global rice market into chaos with speculative hoarding and panic buying, which brought a significant opportunity for Vietnam to increase exports.

However, the more important story for the world’s third-largest rice exporter was how to build a national brand and prestige in a turbulent market.