2:22:05 PM | 29/10/2008
Vietnam is estimated to have exported nearly 3.9 million tons of rice so far this year, raking in US$2.31 billion, according to the Vietnam Food Association.
The association said Vietnamese companies have signed contracts to export 4.4 million tons, including 2.15 million tons under trade deals, and they now have 888,345 tons in stock.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the companies should export additional 650,000 tons of rice during the remaining months of 2008 to fulfill the country’s target for the whole year.
Currently at Mekong Delta provinces, paddy prices continued falling to only VND3,500-4,000 a kilogram, mostly attributed by the fact that the ongoing global financial crisis may reduce rice demand.
To help local companies, Minister Vu Huy Hoang has suggested the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung remove export floor prices of rice until February 2009 while offering preferential lending interest rates. (Saigon Liberation, Pioneer)
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