The US Department of Agriculture forecast that Vietnam would export around 6.4 million of rice in 2011, according to the US financial news agency, Bloomberg.
The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said Vietnam had exported 2.869 million tonnes of rice by May 19, earning US$1.356 billion.
The Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade expected to see around 3 million tonnes of rice exported by the end of May.
Vietnam had signed new contracts for 3.9 million tonnes of rice to be shipped by the end of June.
After the harvest of winter-spring crops, there is high hope that the selling price of rice will go up because many countries, like the Philippines and Indonesia, want to import Vietnamese rice.
Currently, the VFA has around 1.7 million tonnes of rice in stock and businesses keep 300,000 tonnes, which could help stabilise domestic prices./.