Vietnam eyes exports of seven million tons of rice this year

Vietnam, the world's third largest rice exporter, is likely to ship seven million tons this year, the government says.

A farmer harvests rice by a paddy field outside Hanoi, June 10, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

"This will be 400,000-500,000 tons more than last year," Mai Tien Dung, chief of the Government Office, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Exports in the first five months of this year increased by 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.86 million tons worth $1.4 billion, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The average export price in January-May was $485 per ton, up 13 percent.

Dung said the country had irregular rice harvests this year as a result of dry weather and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta, a rice growing hub.

Last year Vietnam, the third biggest exporter after India and Thailand, had exported 6.37 million tons of rice for $2.81 billion, with the top market being the Philippines, which bought over 2.1 million tons.