VietNamNet Bridge – Many localities in the Mekong Delta have objected to a quota plan announced by the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) for one million tons of rice in the winter-spring crop to be bought for storage as approved by the Government.

Employees of a rice export enterprise loads bags of rice into a container in this file photo. Many provinces oppose the rice quota plan of VFA

According to Huynh The Nang, VFA vice chairman and general director of Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2), the planned rice volumes allocated in the Mekong Delta include 251,433 tons for An Giang Province, 175,696 tons for Can Tho City, 155,474 tons for Dong Thap Province, 118,757 tons for Long An Province, over 83,000 tons for Tien Giang Province, 79,000 tons for Kien Giang Province, 2,400 tons for Ca Mau Province and 8,000 tons for Bac Lieu.

Nang said the quota allocation is calculated based on enterprises’ plans to buy 2014-2015 winter-spring rice for storage, good performance for winter-spring rice storage last year, capacity to export and consume all rice they purchase for stockpiling, and participation in large-scale rice fields.

Of the volumes, only two localities see their volumes for storage increase compared to the last rice storage program while the quotas of many others are considerably down.

The quotas of Ca Mau, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Vinh Long fall by 600 tons, 3,000 tons, 20,626 tons, 8,000 tons, 5,000 tons, Tien Giang 19,857 tons and 34,000 tons respectively.

Speaking to the Daily, many localities in the delta said their rice output is big but VFA lowers their quotas for stockpiles. Therefore, localities expect VFA will reconsider its quota allocation plan.

Another reason, according to localities, is that the actual volumes local enterprises can buy are low compared to the quotas allocated to them.

For instance, for 251,433 tons in An Giang, local enterprises can buy only 137,000 tons while the remainder is secured by outside enterprises. Similarly, enterprises in Bac Lieu can buy only 3,000 tons out of 8,000 tons and only 67,000 tons out of 83,143 tons in Tien Giang can be guaranteed by local firms.

Huynh Van Ranh, director of Kien Giang Province’s Department of Industry and Trade, complained the rice quota allocation for enterprises makes it hard for the agency to check the actual rice volumes sold.

According to a deputy director of the Department of Industry and Trade in Dong Thap Province, while local firms are capable of buying all the rice volume assigned, rice is sold to enterprises of other provinces due to various reasons, and this is unfair. The ability of a newly-established enterprise which is not qualified to buy rice for storage as it did not stockpile rice last year needs to be reconsidered.

Besides, some enterprises are assigned with small volumes despite their big capacities like Hoang Long Co. in Hau Giang Province.

Huynh Thanh Hoang, deputy director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said Hoang Long registered to stock up on 20,000 tons of rice but has been allocated with only 3,000 tons.

Many enterprises said they can sell all of the rice they store.

Nang said VFA would reconsider increasing the rice quotas for provinces.    

SGT