HANOI (Commodity Online) : Amid concerns of food inflation in Asia, world’s second largest rice exporter Vietnam said it planned to export 6 million tons of rice every year from 2012-2015 period.
According to Vietnam Food Association (VFA) they will also implement measures to ensure rice quality.
The VFA in its 7th congress also outlined five major measures to be implemented during the period to ensure rice export efficiency:
-- Improving rice quality through selecting rice strains, establishing high-quality rice fields and step-by-step building up unique trademarks for the products;
-- Diversifying rice products and expanding the export of fragrant rice to meet market demand;
-- Enhancing competitiveness to maintain and strengthen traditional markets and satisfy new ones to stabilise and expand market share;
-- Connecting production with consumption and marketing management to ensure price stability for farmers; and
-- Ensuring management of rice export with high efficiency and against dumping.
In the first eight months of 2011, Vietnam exported 5.3 million tons of rice, worth $2.525 billion (free on board, or FOB), up 11.4 per cent in volume and 23.8 per cent in value, year-on-year. The country expects to export seven million tons this year.
During 2006-2010, the country exported a total of 26.699 million tons of rice, up 33.7 percent in volume and 165.3 percent in value in comparison with the 2001-2005 periods.
The country's rice export markets include those in Asia, Africa and America, the VFA said.
Vietnam is due to finish harvesting its second rice crop in two weeks, while a minor crop will be ready by the end of 2011, helping lift output this year by 4 percent to 41.6 million tons, according to the country’s farm ministry.
Meanwhile, speculation over aggressive intervention by the new government in Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter, has pushed the benchmark white rice to $615 a ton, the highest since December 2009; even though demand has remained thin with top importers largely covered.
