Vietnam, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, has ordered all rice traders to cease offering and signing new deals to export rice after hitting a limit of 3.5 million tonnes set for 2004. In an emergency directive sent out to all traders obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, the Vietnam Food Association said the trade ministry had made the request to ensure exports did not exceed this cap.
Vietnam's rice deliveries so far this year had reached 2.6 million tonnes, with a further 900,000 tonnes of the grain contracted for export by the end of the year, state media reported on Tuesday.
The Nguoi Lao Dong (Worker) newspaper quoted Nguyen Thai Nugget, general secretary of the Vietnam Food Association, as saying rice exporters had met the 3.5 million-tonne target set by the trade ministry for the whole year of 2004.
Rice traders told Reuters the trade ministry could issue a new export target in August. But they said the ministry had rejected a request by rice exporters to exclude fragrant and sticky rice, amounting to around 200,000 tonnes, from the 3.5 million-tonne cap.
Exporters had hoped they would be granted an additional 200,000 tonnes in place of this rice. Traders said bad weather, including flash floods in northern Vietnam last week that killed at least 30 people, had prompted the trade ministry to make the decision to halt additional rice exports.
Vietnam needs more grain for food relief to flood-stricken areas, they said. On Monday, state statistics estimated revenues from rice shipments during the first seven months of this year would soar 17.8 percent on the same year-earlier period to $592 million.