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.

However, the export price dropped $20 per tonne for 5-per-cent-broken rice to $435-460 per tonne and remained at $400-410 per tonne for 25-per-cent-broken rice, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Information Centre said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the demand for rice on the world market may push up the exort price of the grain in coming months but probably only for a short period.

The biggest challenge for Vietnamese rice exporters was fluctuating quality in certain niche species, the ministry said. While such exporters had improved quality they had not yet reached that required on the world market.

The ministry said, however, that while these certain species could not compete in quality with similar products from other countries, the bulk of Vietnamese export rice competed equally.

Exporters said the quality of rice had improved during the past three years compared to 10 years ago.

The department’s Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development said Viet Nam’s total area of paddy in production this year was estimated to increase 1.5 per cent over last year.

Viet Nam expects to grow 38 million tonnes of unprocessed rice, including 18.2 million tonnes from the Cuu Long Delta region, and to export 4.5-5 million tonnes of rice this year.