Vietnam's Rice Export Earnings Surge in 8 Months

Vietnam has so far this year exported over 3 million tons of rice worth nearly 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, down nearly 1.7 percent in volume but up 94 percent in value against the same period last year, local newspaper Pioneer reported Tuesday.

Of the total rice export earnings, nearly 61.6 percent came from Asia, 17.1 percent from Africa and over 14.7 percent from America, the newspaper quoted the Vietnam Food Association as reporting.

World rice prices are dropping because major rice exporters, including Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan have bumper crops, and some key rice importers have purchased amounts nearly sufficient to their need, according to the Import-Export Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Thailand, currently having nearly 2.6 million tons of rice in inventory, is estimated to harvest roughly 7.6 million tons of paddy rice between August and September. Pakistan is likely to export some 5 million tons of rice this year, said the department.

Early this month, the Vietnamese government urged relevant sectors and enterprises to intensify purchase of rice grown in the southern Mekong Delta and delivery of rice for export, and sign new contracts so that 4.5-4.6 million tons of the commodity would be shipped abroad this year.

Vietnam sold overseas 4.5 million tons of rice worth nearly 1.5 billion dollars in 2007, down 3.1 percent in volume but up 13.9 percent in value against 2006, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Source: CRIEnglish