Tariffs should still be imposed on the country's rice imports, a civil society group said Tuesday.In a statement, the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) said liberalized rice importation will only have a negative impact on the country's vision of self-sufficiency as farmers will be discouraged from rice planting once cheaper imports flood the market.R1 made the statement in response to the inclusion of rice among products to be given free market access in the Philippines as part of the ASEAN Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) scheme in 2010.

Viet Nam exported 1.74 million tonnes of rice in the first quarter of this year, earning US$785 million the General Statistic Office said. The exports increased 71.3 per cent in volume and 76.2 per cent in value over the same period last year, the office said. In March, rice exports fell by 50,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes and by $35 million in value to $315 million compared with last month. The price of unhusked rice to be processed for export increased by VND100-200 per kilo to VND5,400-5,600 per kilo.

DAMMAM: A 15-member delegation of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) is in the Kingdom to promote rice exports to Saudi Arabia. The delegation members met major Saudi rice importers in the Eastern Province and also had one-on-one meetings with leading rice dealers here. Having a bumper rice crop of 6.5 million tons this year, Pakistan plans to export 4 million tons. Today, Pakistan is the third largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand and Vietnam and ahead of US and India, Rahim Janoo, REAP chairman underlined this in his meetings with Saudi rice importers. Pakistani rice, both basmati and the non-basmati varieties are currently exported to 89 countries of the world

Bangkok, March 25 - Thai rice exports fell sharply in the first quarter due to uncompetitive prices but Vietnamese shippers remained busy and that kept prices there firm, exporters said on Wednesday. From January to March, Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, sold 1.7 million tonnes of rice, down 36 percent from the same period last year when it shipped 2.7 million tonnes, according to the Commerce Ministry data.