Packing rice for export (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) willcontinue to strictly manage rice exports throughinternational border gates, said an official.
Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Export-Import Department, saidat the ministry’s regular press conference on May 15 that although rice is a key export staple, it is a must to ensure the country's food security.
The ministry will also coordinate with competent forces to increaseinspections in order to prevent rice smuggling across borders, he said.
Statistics showed that Vietnam shipped abroad 2.1 million tonnes of ricevalued at 991 million USD in the first four months of this year, up 1.1 percentin volume and 4.1 percent in value.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed with the MoIT’s proposal to resume riceexports from May 1, in accordance with Decree 107/2018/ND-CP on rice exports.
In implementing the PM’s instructions regarding riceexports in the time ahead, the ministry has asked cities and provinces tosupervise businesses’ ensuring circulated reserves at at least 5 percent of thetotal rice export volume, Hai told the Vietnam News Agency.
In addition, the ministry has urged the 20 biggest rice exporters tosign agreements with at least a supermarket system to ensure food reserves forcirculation.
The MoIT will continue its close coordination with other ministries,agencies, localities and the Vietnam Food Association to implement solutions to facilitaterice exports in terms of procedures, logistics and credit.
Notably, it will keep a close watch on the developments of domestic and globalrice demand-supply and forecast actions to be taken by the world’s majorimporters and exporters, as well as the developments of diseases and naturaldisasters. Relevant reports will be submitted to the PM for decision making.
According to the MoIT, the country is projected toharvest 43.5 million tonnes of paddy this year, nearly 30 million tonnes of which isexpected to be used for domestic consumption, and the rest for export./.
VNA
