VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam exported nearly 5.4 million tons of rice in the past nine months, earning US$2.28 billion, up by 8.51 percent in volume and 12 percent in value year-on-year, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) reported on October 8.

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Rice is packed for export at Sai Gon – Sakate Company.

According to the association, the average export price of Vietnamese rice was US$422.67 per ton, up US$16.43 per ton over the same period of last year, thanks to rising demand for rice on the world market.

VFA general secretary Huynh Minh Hue said by late September, Vietnamese firms signed contracts to export about 6.5 million tons of rice, a year-on-year increase of 17.19 percent.

They are expected to ship 1.2 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2010, raising the total export rice volume in the year to 6.6 millon tons.

Between July 15 and September 15, businesses bought over 972,000 tons of rice, fulfilling 97.21 percent of the target of having one million tons in reserve.

Rice prices are currently high on the local market, about VND5,500-6,000 per kilogram.

VFA vice chairman Pham Van Bay said prices will go up because Vinafood 2 has just signed contracts to export 300,000 tons to Indonesia.

Therefore, VFA has raised the ceiling price of 25-percent-broken rice to US$445 per ton, up US$10.

The Government has been negotiating export contracts with several countries, including Cuba, the Philippines and Indonesia.