Rice exporters busy on rising demand

Demand for Vietnamese rice rose on the world market due to just an increase in demand, the association reported.

The Government has been negotiating export contracts with several countries, including Cuba, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Vietnamese Government signed a contract with the Cuban Government to export 200,000 tonnes of 15-per-cent broken rice at US$450 per tonne.

Cuba would continue negotiations with Vietnam to sign other contracts for exporting rice in the future, the association said.

The Southern Food Corporation (VinaFood 2) already signed contracts to export 300,000 tonnes of 15-per-cent broken rice to Indonesia.

That country planned to import 700,000 tonnes of rice more in coming time.

Meanwhile, the Philippines returned to negotiation on importing 1-1.5 million tonnes of rice from Vietnam, the association said.

High demand on the world market pushed the export price of Vietnamese rice up, they said.

The price was up by 15 per cent to $475 per tonne for 5-per-cent broken rice and to $435 per tonne for 25-per -cent broken rice as of early August.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the nation's total rice output for 2010 would reach around 31 million tonnes.

So far, the programme for purchasing rice for temporary stock in order to stabilise prices is over and the stock has reached 1 million tonnes.

Therefore, at this moment, exporters could increase rice exports because the domestic rice volume was enough for export and for national food security, the ministry said.

The country expected to export more than 7 million tonnes of rice this year, higher than the initial target at 5.9 million and would be a record high in export volume during Vietnam's 21-year period of rice exportation.

During the first nine months of this year, the country exported 5.55 million tonnes of rice, an increase of 12 per cent over the same period last year, earning $2.56 billion.