Vietnam to Stockpile More Rice to Stabilize Local Market
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested the Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) purchase 500,000 tons of rice for reserve within two months by November 20.
It aims to stabilize local rice market and ensure profit for local rice growers, the paper said, adding that the rice will be kept in stock until January 20, 2010.
Vinafood 2 will get interest-free loans to buy rice to raise Vietnam’s total summer-autumn rice stockpile by 50% to 1.4 million tons.
Domestic companies have so far this year exported 4.72 million tons of rice, earning nearly $1.93 billion.
Analysts believe that the country can ship six million tons of rice abroad this year thanks to bumper crops.
Prices of un-husked rice have been stable in the Mekong Delta region over the past two weeks. High-grade un-husked rice is currently priced at VND5,200 per kilo while prices of 5% broken rice hover VND6,600-VND6,700 per kilo. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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