Vietnam to exceed rice export target

Nguyen Tri Ngoc, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Cultivation Department, said the harvest yielded 18.6 million tonnes of husked rice, an increase of 312,000 tonnes above last spring-winter crop.

"This is a bumper year for farmers," said Ngoc. "We can export up to 6 million tonnes this year." 

The state-run Nong Nghiep Vietnam newspaper said the government had set an export target of 4.5-5 million tons. But exports are now expected to exceed the record of 5.3 million tonnes in 2005. Vietnam resumed rice exports in 1989.

According to the Vietnam Food Association, the country exported more than 3.6 million tonnes by the end of June. The average price per ton was 392 dollars.

Vietnam is the second-biggest rice exporter, after Thailand.

In 2008 Vietnam exported 4.6 million tons, earning 2.9 billion dollars. That was double the previous year's earnings, due to high global prices that hit 900 dollars per tonne in May. //DPA-30/06/2009