HANOI: Vietnam’s rice exports this year are expected to be higher than 7.6 million metric tons, Vietnam Food Association’s chairman said on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country is the world’s third-largest rice exporter after India and Thailand, and its largest buyer is the Philippines.

India’s recent moves to ease its rice export restrictions will not have any significant impact on Vietnam’s rice shipments, Chairman Nguyen Ngoc Nam told Reuters.

Asian rice prices plunge as India eases export curbs

“Domestic rice inventory is not high now, while Vietnam’s rice markets are different from India’s,” Nam said. India last month allowed exports of non-basmati white rice, and cut export duty on parboiled rice to 10%, buoyed by a new crop in the offing and higher inventories, sending global prices down.

Vietnam’s rice exports in the first nine months of the year rose 8.9% to 6.99 million tons from a year earlier, according to government trade data.

Rice export revenue in the January-September period rose 23% to $4.35 billion, according to the data.