The Mekong Delta plans to expand rice cultivation area for the summer-autumn crop to ensure export demand for 2016, said the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute.
The Vietnam Food Association plans to export three million tons of rice in the first six months of 2016, up 12 percent from the same period last year, despite an historic drought and saline intrusion that are crippling the country's rice fields.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has reported that Vietnam’s agricultural exports touched $10.2 billion in the first four months of 2016, up 11 percent from the same period last year.
Vietnam is one of the world’s largest rice exporters, but appears to be less competitive on the international market because it has failed to build a national rice brand name, said economist Vo Tong Xuan at a seminar on Thursday.
The Vietnam Food Association predicts that Vietnam’s rice exports will reach 1.5 million tons in the second quarter of this year, lower than its previous target of 1.6 million tons.
In an attempt to become more competitive on the international market, Vietnamese rice exporters are finding their ways into new markets that are more demanding but willing to offer higher prices.
