Vietnam exports over 2 mln tons of rice, over 40 pct to China

Vietnam has earned some $899 million from selling 2.061 million tons of rice to world market as of May 22 in 2014, with over 40 percent sold to China, said Vietnam Food Association (VFA) on Tuesday.

In the first three weeks of May, Vietnam has exported 309,000 tons of rice, worth $133 million, Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade quoted VFA as saying.

According to a recent report by the Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam's rice exports in May are expected to dip 10.2 percent in volume and 7.3 percent in value year-on-year.

However, the country's rice enjoyed a positive signal as the average export price of the product in the first four months of 2014 stood at 456.19 U.S. dollars per ton, up 4.4 percent year-on- year, said MARD.

The Philippines was the market that saw remarkable growth in January-April period with an increase of 5.26 times in volume and 5.79 times in value year-on-year.

The report said the Philippines ranked the second among Vietnam' s large rice importers in four-month period with 18.66 percent of market shares while China maintained Vietnam's biggest rice importer, accounting for 41.75 percent of the market shares.