Vietnamese enterprises have signed contracts on shipping abroad 600,000 tons of rice, mainly to the Philippines, the Middle East and Africa, in the first quarter of this year.

Of the volume, 342,500 tons will go to the Philippines, according to the Planning Department under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Indonesian firms are likely to ink contracts to import nearly 100,000 tons of Vietnamese rice in the first quarter of the year, the department said.

The department predicted that prices of rice in the Asian market will remain high in 2006, mainly because the rice output of China and India will decline, while their population grow.

Vietnam has set targets of producing 38-39 million tons of paddy rice and selling overseas 4 to 4.2 million tons of rice this year, the department said.

Vietnam exported over 5.2 million tons of rice worth nearly 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, year-on-year respective surges of 27. 3 percent and 47.3 percent.

Source: Xinhua