More than one million tons of rice was exported in January and February at 445 million USD, doubling that of 2015 in terms of volume and value.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the volume of rice exported in February is estimated at 523,000 tons for 228 million USD.
The surge in rice exports is largely due to the Philippines and Indonesia strengthening rice imports and price increases of about 40 percent.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), the increase in rice exports was due to the fact that Vietnam’s rice exporters had to complete government-to-government deals with the Philippines and Indonesia.
The Mekong Delta farmed about 1.54 million out of 1.56 million planned hectares in the winter-spring crop. Localities have harvested about 120,000 hectares with an average productivity of 6.3-6.4 tons per hectare.
In 2015, Vietnam exported 6.5 million tons for 2.68 billion USD, a decrease of 3.94 percent in value. Asian countries were the main buyers, accounting for 74.5 percent of exports, followed by Africa (13.77 percent) and the US (6.72 percent)./.