Rice Export up 12 per cent in Jan-August
Vietnamese exporters shipped over 3.59 million tons of rice worth US$1.154 billion in the first eight months of 2007, the General Statistics Office’s report showed.
The figures showed a decrease of 4.8 per cent on year in terms of volume but an increase of 12.2 per cent in value.
The increase in value is mostly attributed by high export price of Vietnamese rice by US$10 to US$325 per ton, the Liberated Saigon reported.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has instructed local enterprises to halt signing new rice export contracts in 2007 to ensure domestic food security and start negotiating on export in 2008.
So far this year, rice exporters inked deals to ship four million tons abroad.
According to the MARD, Vietnam needs around 28.5 million tons of paddy this year, including 20.2 million tons for meal, 7.2-7.5 million tons for animal breeding and 1.1-1.2 million tons for germination
Meanwhile, total paddy output is expected to reach 35.5 million tons.
Vietnam planned to stop rice export volume at 4.5 million tons in 2007, down from 4.7 million tons last year. (GSO Aug Edition, Liberated Saigon Sep 4 p2)
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