Rice export volume doubles in past two months

Vietnam exported 1.1 million tons of rice in the first two months of 2009, an increase of 129 percent on the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Rice exports in January and February generated US$479 million, 2.5 times more than in the same period last year. Vietnam, the world’s second biggest rice exporter after Thailand, has already signed contracts to sell 3.7 million tons of rice, or around 73 percent of its 2009 annual target, according to the government website. Viet Rice Co. from the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho has just inked a contract to export fragrant rice to Australia and New Zealand. The company aimed to meet 70 percent of its annual target of exporting 350,000 tons of rice in the first six months of the year. Vietnamese rice export prices in the global market rose 9.6 percent last month to $430 - $460 per ton from February last year, the ministry reported. On March 4, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged local food corporations to buy the country’s entire rice output, build standard storage facilities and ensure farmers made reasonable profits. MARD is working on a new rice storage system in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam’s key rice growing area, Vietnam News Agency reported. The system, which is estimated to cost VND7 trillion (US$400 million), is expected to be able to store up to 4 million tons of rice. Vietnam produced 38.6 million tons of rice last year, 2.6 million tons more than 2007, according to the General Statistics Office. Last year the sector exported 4.74 million tons of rice, fetching US$2.89 billion. MARD has set a rice production target of 37.5 million tons to 38 million tons this year. sources from vietnewsonline.vn