Vietnam's rice exports so far this year rose 31.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 million tonnes, an industry report said on Friday, on track to bring the annual volume to a record high. Rising shipments from the world's second-largest exporter of Asia's staple food may contribute to easing inflation concerns in the region.
Consumer price rises pose a challenge to the region's policy makers, but plentiful supplies of rice have prevented the grain from matching the sharp increases in other foodstuffs such as corn and wheat over the last two years. The country's rice export revenues between January 1 and April 21 generated $1.05 billion, up 33 percent from a year ago, the Vietnam Food Association said in a weekly report.
Vietnam has projected rice exports this year at a record high of 7.1 million to 7.4 million tonnes, after a record 6.83 million tonnes shipped in 2010. While the harvest of the winter-spring crop - Vietnam's largest and mainly for export - has almost ended in the Mekong Delta food basket, domestic paddy prices and export quotations rose this week due to loading demand, traders said.
Winter-spring paddy rose to 5,600-6,600 dong (26.9-31.7 US cents) per kg this week in the Delta, up around 1.7 percent from the previous week, keeping export prices unchanged at a high level even though fresh buying demand remained thin. Vietnam's main rice export destinations so far this year include frequent buyers such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cuba and several African nations.
Rising rice prices in Vietnam may have led some Vietnamese exporters to delay or default in loading for private Philippine firms, but government deals are not affected and buyers were committed to supply the bulk of their quota, a Philippine industry official and traders said on Wednesday.
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