New Delhi, June 17 : Anticipating a record harvest and procurement of paddy in the coming season, a top official Tuesday said the current ban on export of rice may be relaxed over the next four-five months."October-November is the time when the government may think of lifting the ban on the export of rice," Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters here, on the margins of an international conference on diamond trade.

"I think if the rice crop is good in November, we will be comfortable on both rice and wheat. We are expecting about 94 million tonnes of rice harvest. This means we will have 3-4 million surplus rice for export," Pillai said.

 JAKARTA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia stockpiles 1.8 million tons of rice at present that becomes the biggest rice stockpile in the last 10 years, an official said Monday.

    "The global food crisis seems to cause no major problem to us because the government has stockpiled 1.8 million tons of rice, the biggest stock in the last 10 years," State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying.

    "What appears to be the biggest threat is surging oil price...which causes instability in the state budget," he said in a hearing with legislators here.

Tổng thống Philíppin Gloria Arroyo tuyên bố nước này đang tiến tới mục tiêu sau 5 năm nữa có đủ gạo tự túc.

VietNamNet Bridge - Although price of rice has significantly increased in the world market recently, Vietnam will ensure sufficient rice supply for Cuba this year, said Vietnamese commercial counsellor to Cuba Nguyen Thai Binh.

Vietnam is Cuba ’s main rice supplier with 400,000 tonnes per year. Cuba ’s rice consumption reaches about 600,000 tonnes per year while its annual output is only 100,000 tonnes, according to Cuba ’s Statistics Ofice.