The winter-spring paddy rice output in Vietnams Mekong Delta is expected to rise 10.8 percent from last year to 10.4 million tonnes, thanks to higher yields, beating previous expectations, a state-run newspaper said. The average yield rose nearly 5 percent to 6.5 tonnes per hectare that produces Vietnams top quality grain, Mondays Tin Tuc (News) daily quoted Le Van Banh, director of the Cuu Long Delta Rice Institute, as saying.
He said farmers have so far harvested 94 percent of their 1.6 million hectares (3.95 million acres) planted under the crop, which is also slightly above last years crop area of more than 1.5 million hectares. The harvesting is expected to end this month. The same crop last year turned out 9.3 million tonnes of paddy, most of which was exported.
Vietnam, the worlds second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, has cut its revenue forecast from exports of up to 5 million tonnes of the grain this year by 7.5 percent because of higher global supply.