Vietnam is well on track to produce 36.55 million tons of paddy rice in 2008 so as to ensure national food security and rice export, local newspaper Vietnam News reported on Friday.
The rush to buy rice in Vietnam ended on the back of falling rice prices, following moves by food companies and market regulators to defuse the worst panic purchase in many years, the newspaper quoted a report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as saying.
Official figures show that Vietnam currently has 1.23 million tons of rice available in stock, which authorities say testifies that the price rises and rush buying was a result of rumors, speculation and distribution impediments rather than a rice shortage.
The price of rice in the domestic market fell to 16,000-17,000 Vietnamese dong (VND) (1-1.1 U.S. dollars) per kilogram of premium quality rice on May 1. Rice prices started to climb from 11,000-13,000 VND (nearly 0.7-0.8 dollar) last week to 20,000-22,000 VND (nearly 1.3-1.4 dollars) over the weekend.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent an urgent notice on April 27, affirming that Vietnam is fully able to provide food for domestic consumption while ensuring some rice exports.
With paddy rice output predicted at 36.55 million tons in 2008,domestic consumption of paddy rice is forecast at 27.8 million tons, including one million tons reserved for breeding, and 5.8 million tons in animal feed and post-harvest loss in the year.
The remaining 8.75 million tons of paddy rice, equivalent to 4.5 million tons of rice, will be available for export, said the Ministry report. The government's rice export target of 3.5-4 million tons this year is attainable.
The Ministry's statistics show that Vietnam produced 19.8 million tons of paddy rice in the last six months, of which 5 million tons, equivalent to 2.8 million tons of rice, is earmarked for export.
The General Department of Vietnam Customs reported that the country exported 1.6 million tons of rice worth 775 million dollars in the first four months of this year.
Vietnam currently has two rice distribution systems. One is used for supplying rice for export, while the other is reserved for the domestic market. The former is being handled well by the government and operating smoothly, but the latter is still at the mercy of the market's whims, the newspaper said.
Source: Xinhua
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