Pakistan beats Vietnam in rice exports as September shipments top 420,000 tonnes

Pakistan’s rice exporters have done something in September that they had never managed before: they outsold Vietnam. The country shipped 420,277 tonnes of rice in a single month, comfortably ahead of Vietnam’s 337,000 tonnes, according to figures from Vietnam’s own foreign trade agency. Vietnam has long been regarded as the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and Pakistan is now openly pushing for that spot.

The September numbers in full

The scale of the jump is what stands out. In September last year, Pakistan exported 168,322 tonnes; this September the figure was more than two and a half times higher. Basmati shipments nearly tripled, from 35,109 tonnes to 101,271 tonnes, while non-basmati and other varieties rose from 133,213 tonnes to 319,005 tonnes. Pakistan also earned more per tonne than its rival: exporters fetched an average of $621 a tonne against Vietnam’s $563, a premium that points to strong demand for the country’s mix of high-value aromatic Basmati and other grades.

Holding up through regional disruption

The result came despite a difficult backdrop. The US-Iran confrontation and disruption to shipping through the Gulf region might have been expected to dent trade, yet global Basmati trade held firm at 6.9 million tonnes, matching last year’s level, as buyers in key markets chose Pakistan and India’s premium grain over non-aromatic varieties. Rice industry expert Hamid Malik notes that the shift began in December 2025, when Pakistan passed Vietnam’s monthly export volume for the first time this millennium.

A 51 percent rise in the first quarter

Across the first quarter of the current fiscal year, July to September, Pakistan exported 1.075 million tonnes of rice, up 51 percent from 713,794 tonnes in the same period last year, with foreign-exchange earnings from the trade up 37 percent. Rafiq Suleman of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has called the growth encouraging for the industry, and with a bumper crop of around 10 million tonnes expected, exporters see room to push further into new markets and deepen ties with existing buyers, particularly for premium Basmati.