Phillipines would import more rice from Viet Nam. — Photo vov.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) – Philippine enterprises can import additional 293,100 tonnes of rice from Viet Nam to ensure food demand in the 2017 between-crop period was met, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) said.

The enterprises were also permitted to buy a similar quantity of rice from Thailand and 50,000 tonnes from China, India, Pakistan and other countries, with a total volume of 805,200 tonnes.

Delivery was set before February 28, 2017.

VFA Chairman Huynh The Nang said this was a chance for Vietnamese businesses to boost rice consumption which was, currently, gloomy

In late August 2016, Viet Nam won a bid to provide 150,000 tonnes of rice to Philippines at US$424.85 per tonne.

Experts said Viet Nam would still face difficulty in exporting rice in the last three months of this year due to supply being higher than demand for rice in the market.

In the first nine months of this year, the export of rice, which was a key farm produce in the country, dropped 16.4 per cent in volume and 12.5 per cent in value to 3.76 million tonnes and $1.69 billion, respectively, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported.

China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice with a 35.5 per cent market share, followed by Ghana with 11 per cent and Indonesia with 9.4 per cent. — VNS