VN’s rice export may hit record this year

VGP - The Việt Nam Food Association said the country can export a record volume of 6 million tons of rice this year, to earn some US $2 billion, US $200 million more than the last year’s figure.

August 04, 2009 9:13 AM GMT+7

At a recent seminar on rice outlooks held by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, many experts said the world’s rice market is stable and Việt Nam can benefit from it, especially in the last months of this year.

The Mekong Delta is expected to produce around 20 million tons of paddy rice this year.

As of late June, Vietnamese enterprises signed contracts to export over 5 million tons of rice.

Foreign countries’ demand for Vietnamese rice still remains high.

The Philippines plans to import additional 350,000 tons of rice from Việt Nam after buying 1.5 million tons. Meanwhile, Africa wants to buy 300,000 tons of Vietnamese rice between July and August.

Việt Nam exported 3.8 million tons of rice (US $1.8 billion) in the first half of this year, up over 57% in volume and nearly 25% in value against the same period last year.

By Ngọc Vân