Vietnamese enterprises will be allowed to ship five million tons of rice for the whole year of 2006, according to a recent decision signed by PM Nguyen Tan Dung.
The Ministries of Trade and Agriculture and Rural Development (MoT and MARD) and Vietnam Food Association (Vietfood) are assigned to closely follow up monthly rice deliveries, the decision said.
Deputy Minister of Trade Phan The Rue said the target is completely to be achieved without affecting national food security thanks to a large quantity of rice brought from Cambodia, which can supply an additional 100,000 tons of rice to Vietnam without import tax under a recently signed deal between the two countries.
Vietfood chairman Truong Thanh Phong also proposed the government to allow enterprises to export sticky rice, broken rice and fragrant rice unlimitedly. His proposal has been considered reasonable.
Statistics from Vietfood showed that Vietnamese enterprises have so far signed contracts with foreign partners to export 4.5 million tons of rice, in which 3.5 million tons have been delivered, fetching $1 billion in export turnover and fulfilling 75 per cent of the set target.
The remaining volume of 700,000 tons of rice will be shipped abroad from September till the end of the year.
Regarding export rice target for 2006, only 500,000 tons of rice will be left for trading, the association said.
Domestic rice market has regained momentum after a reduction in export rice prices for a period of time. In recent months, the prices of export rice have sharply increased due to soaring prices in the world market.
The average rice price of the past eight months was at $252 per ton, an increase of $5 per ton compared to the same period last year. Price hikes for export rice have driven up the domestic rice prices, benefiting many farmers.
Currently, the price of summer-autumn rice stands at VND2,500-2,600 per kilo. The rice price is predicted to increase from now till yearly next year thanks to the market’s large consumption demand.
Young People
Vietnamese
