Vietnam suspends rice exports to US after pesticide violations

• Vietnam’s rice exports plummet 16 percent in first nine months
• A golden season in the rice paddies

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has decided to temporarily put on hold exports of rice to the U.S. due to pesticide residue issues.

The decision was made after the U.S. discovered high levels of pesticide residue in shipments of Vietnamese rice, the Cong an nhan dan (People's Police) news site reported on Friday, quoting Vo Thanh Do, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture-Forestry-Fisheries Processing.

The suspension is made as the ministry needs time to handle the issue to avoid a ban on Vietnamese rice imports from the U.S., Do told a seminar in the southern city of Can Tho on Friday.

The Vietnam Food Association cited information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as saying that in the first four months of this year, the U.S. rejected 94 rice containers from Vietnam, which are equivalent to around 1,700 tons of rice.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam exported 22,084 tons of rice to the U.S., falling almost 33 percent from the same period last year, according to Vietnam Customs.

Related news:

> Vietnam’s rice exports plummet 16 percent in first nine months

> A golden season in the rice paddies