Vietnam will seek approval from rice buyers to delay some shipments after exporters contracted 4 million tonnes, loading for most of which is scheduled within the first half of the year, the Agriculture Ministry said.
The Industry and Trade Ministry has asked the Vietnam Food Association to have companies executing major contracts talk with importers "to extend the shipping time for part of the contracts", the agriculture ministry said in an online statement on Friday.
It did not name any companies or countries, which may be affected by the delays. Major buyers of Vietnamese rice include the Philippines, Cuba, Indonesia and Malaysia. Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat, in a separate email sent to Reuters on Friday, said the ministry had proposed the government to export 4.5 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes of rice this year.
But the government said it was aiming at the higher end of the target range to export 5 million tonnes. Exporters have signed deals and registered for loading a combined 3.66 million tonnes at the end of February, more than tripling the volume signed during the first two months of last year, the agriculture ministry cited the food associations figures as showing.
Exporters have also signed contracts for another 345,000 tonnes but they have yet to register with the food association, which is required before obtaining loading clearance. Overall, the contracted volume accounted for 80-88 percent of Vietnams annual rice export target.
Rice exports in the first two months of this year surged 126 percent from a year earlier period to 1.04 million tonnes, while earnings soared 177 percent to $469 million the agriculture ministry cited customs figures as saying. Estimating the export pace and the upcoming output from the winter-spring rice crop, the Industry and Trade Ministry has suggested the plan on loading delays, the agriculture ministrys statement said without giving any further figures.
Farmers in the Mekong Delta food basket have harvested about 550,000 hectares, 35 percent of the 1.55 million hectares under the winter-spring crop, with output expected to rise 5 percent from the similar crop last year to 9.8-10 million tonnes. But some areas in the Delta have been suffering from salination and pests, provincial officials have said.
"The Agriculture Ministry is concentrating on instructing localities to boost production to win victory in agricultural production, firstly in the winter-spring crop," Minister Phat said in the email to Reuters. Phat was commenting on the countrys rice production and exports during his first online chat with businesses and the public in which he also discussed a variety of issues from production of rubber, cashew to forestry and fisheries.