Vietnam’s rice exports in the first four months surpassed 2.1 million tonnes, up 23.4 percent over the same period last year, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has reported.
However, prices dropped by nearly 30 USD per tonne during the reviewed period, due to low demand as well as the pressure to sell rice for rotating capital facing rice businesses.
Successive drops in rice prices led to the cancellation of a number of contracts. In the mentioned time, contracts for a total of 280,000 tonnes of rice were cancelled.
The VFA projected the export of around 2.2 million tonnes of rice in the second quarter of this year, bringing rice export volume in the first half to about 3.65 million tonnes.
At a meeting on rice exports in Ho Chi Minh City on May 3, the VFA Chairman, Truong Thanh Phong, said his association will propose to transfer its control of purchasing rice for stockpile to localities.
The policy to support the purchase of rice for stockpile is one of the Government’s measures to consume a certain amount of rice during harvest season in the Mekong Delta, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has said recently.
It will help regulate the price of rice, ensuring a profit for farmers, instead of giving them money, the Government leader stressed./.