VFA President Truong Thanh Phong said rice exporters have so far this
year earned 2.56 billion USD from exporting over 5.5 million tonnes of
rice, representing an increase of over 14 percent in value and almost 12
percent in quantity over the previous year.
Vietnam
is among a few major rice exporters to enjoy such a rosy situation,
with Thailand , India and Pakistan suffering a decrease in rice
exports.
Abnormal climatic conditions caused bad
harvests in many countries. Indonesia , for example, had to drop its
plan to export rice and was forced to import food instead due to bad
harvests. In September alone, the Islamic country imported 300,000
tonnes of rice from Vietnam and 200,000 tonnes from Thailand .
Rice reserves in Africa are depleting, pushing the continent towards
importing rice. Poor harvests in many republics of the former Soviet
Union have inflated world wheat prices and shifted some demand from
wheat to rice, causing more pressure on world rice prices, said
economists.
FOB prices for Vietnamese rice averaged
422.67 USD per tonne in the first nine months of the year, up by 16.43
USD year on year
Rice exporters have signed contracts
of 6.8 million tonnes against 6.5-6.6 million tonnes previously planned
for the whole year.
Enterprises are expected to sign
contracts for the export of an additional 3 million tonnes of rice and
ship another 2 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of the year.
As a result, Vietnam is likely to export between 7.2 and 7.5
million tonnes of rice this year, breaking its record of 6 million
tonnes in 2009./.
