HANOI- Vietnam will increase its rice production this year to take advantage of a price surge, the head of the country’s Department of Crop Production said on Tuesday.
The country’s unhusked paddy output is expected to rise to more than 43 million metric tons this year, from 42.7 million tons last year, Nguyen Nhu Cuong said in a statement posted on the government’s website.
The rice growing area of the upcoming autumn-winter crop in the Mekong Delta will be raised by 7.7 percent from an initial plan to 700,000 hectares, he added.
Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice prices rose to $580-$590 per metric ton on Tuesday from $515-$525 two weeks ago, traders said, after India on July 20 ordered a halt to its largest export category to calm domestic prices.
“This is an opportunity for us to boost rice exports,” Cuong said.
He said Vietnam’s total rice exports this year would rise to 7.8 million metric tons from 7.1 million tons recorded last year.
“Increasing exports at this time won’t threat Vietnam’s food security,” Cuong said.
Rice shipments from Vietnam in the first seven months of this year were estimated to have risen about 18.7 percent from a year earlier to 4.84 million metric tons, according to the government’s preliminary data. Revenue from rice exports in the period was seen up 29.6 percent at $2.58 billion.
Rice exporters in Thailand and Vietnam are renegotiating prices on sales contracts for around half a million metric tons for August shipments, two trade sources said, as India’s ban has tightened global supplies.
The chairman of Vietnam Food Association said on Monday the country has no immediate plans to restrict rice exports.
“At the moment, Vietnamese companies are exporting rice normally,” said Nguyen Ngoc Nam, chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, which represents the country’s rice processors and exporters and works closely with the government.
India, which accounts for 40 percent of world rice exports, ordered a halt to its largest export category more than a week ago to calm domestic prices, which have climbed to multi-year highs in recent weeks as erratic weather threatened production.
Nam said prices of Vietnamese rice had soared since India’s move on July 20, adding that the harvest of the summer-autumn crop was ongoing in Vietnam, which is the world’s third largest rice exporter after India and Thailand.
Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice prices rose to $550-$575 per metric ton on Monday, traders said, their highest since 2011, from a range of $515-$525 before India’s move.
A day after India’s export curb announcement, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade called on the association to ensure sufficient domestic rice supplies and food security, and asked traders to balance between exports and domestic sales to stabilise domestic prices.
Rice shipments from Vietnam in the first seven months of this year were estimated to have risen about 18.7 percent from a year earlier to 4.84 million tonnes, according to the government’s preliminary data. Revenue from rice exports in the period was seen up 29.6 percent at $2.58 billion.
On Friday, the United Arab Emirates announced it would ban rice exports and re-exports for four months, including rice of Indian origin.
