Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, plans to export 7 million tonnes of the grain this year, breaking its shipment record set in 2010, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday.
Exporters would ship 1 million tonnes between October and December, after 6 million tonnes estimated to have been loaded in the first nine months, Truong Thanh Phong, who was re-elected chairman of the Vietnam Food Association on Tuesday, was quoted by Tuoi Tre newspaper as saying.
The projection by the industry body, which is slightly below a forecast of 7.3 million tonnes by the Agriculture Ministry, is another step to help cool rice prices as the Southeast Asian nation struggles to control inflation.
Phong, who also heads Vinafood 2, Vietnam's largest rice exporter, was quoted as saying that rising rice prices in Thailand created good conditions for Vietnam to increase its rice export revenues this year to $3.5 billion.
Thailand's government said on Tuesday it would start buying rice from farmers at 15,000 baht ($501) a tonne in early October, about one month ahead of schedule, because some rice would be ready for harvest earlier than expected.
Last year, Vietnam exported a record 6.83 million tonnes, earning $3.21 billion, making rice the biggest cash earner among its exportable agricultural products. Rice is the staple food in the country of 87 million people where agriculture contributed 16 percent of GDP last year.
Last month, an association official said Vietnam was capable of exporting between 7.5 million and 8.0 million tonnes in 2011, based on an Agriculture Ministry's estimate on the annual paddy output of 41.6 million tonnes, up from 40 million tonnes last year. As such, Vietnam's output would be above the 35 million tonnes expected in 2012 in Thailand, the top exporter which ships 9 million to 10 million tonnes of milled rice annually.