Rice exports increased in volume but declined in value in the first 10 months of the year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Exports reached 5.37 million tonnes, earning US$2.39 billion, an increase of 33.23% in volume but a fall of 7.65% in value compared with the same period last year.

For October alone, rice exports increased 29,000 tonnes to 370,000 tonnes and US$14 million in value to US$140 million compared with September, the ministry said.

Major export markets included the Philippines, Indonesia, Cuba and Iraq. Exports increased sharply to African countries and the Middle East.

In the first nine months of this year, the rice exports obtained a year-on-year increase of 98% in volume to 1.4 million tonnes to African countries and 65% to 250,000 tonnes to the Middle East.

The ministry said the domestic market price was expected to continue rising because of demand before the Tet festival.

The world market price was also expected to rise, including that of Vietnam rice, the centre said.

Producers, processors and exporters should co-operate in producing and exporting rice to get the best export price, Le Quoc Dung, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, told a seminar in Hanoi on November 3 on managing rice export activities.

Vietnam’s first rice expo will take place in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang on November 28 two days later than initially planned.

The expo’s organising board said that by October 27, hundreds of enterprises from 30 provinces and cities nationwide had registered to open more than 400 stands at the event.

Apart from a central exhibition area, a number of areas will showcase rice growing models from three Vietnamese regions. There will be agricultural and fishing equipments, engines and agricultural machinery and seed plants on display.

Several seminars on Vietnamese rice exports and the promotion of agricultural investment will also be held, co-organised by several ministries and Hau Giang province.

The event will last until December. (VNA)