Agribank to Add VND3.5 Tln Credit to Rice Firms

The Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (Agribank) has said it will add VND3.5 trillion in credit to the Northern and Southern Food Corporations to buy up one million tons of paddy, or 500,000-600,000 tons of rice from farmers.

 

The credit will facilitate the Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1) to buy 150,000 tons of rice while the Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) will buy 350,000 tons.

 

The bank will apply an annual lending rate of 11 per cent to the two corporations.

 

The move is under Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s instruction to boost purchase of rice in Mekong Delta region, to boost agricultural production and prevent economic downturn.

 

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Food Association said rice and paddy prices have rebounded in the past weeks thanks to the PM’s instruction. Rice prices rose by VND200 a kilogram to VND4,100-VND4,800 a kilogram while paddy were selling for VND3,400-VND3,600 a kilogram, up by VND200 a kilogram.

 

Vietnamese companies are estimated to export an additional 44,908 tons of rice worth US$18.405 million in the first week of Dec 2008, bringing the country’s total rice export volume so far this year to 4.28 million tons, valued at US$2.49 billion. (Labor)