HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam, the world's number two rice exporter, said Friday it will increase exports of the grain by 1.0 million tonnes after determining the country had sufficient supplies for the domestic market.
The move comes after officials had limited 2008 rice exports to 3.5 million tonnes in a bid to keep domestic prices down in a period of soaring inflation and to ensure its stocks for local consumption amid the global food crisis.
"Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday ordered the acceleration of rice exports to help farmers sell all of their harvest and to contribute to providing supplies to the world market," the government said on its website.
"After having been able to sufficiently balance domestic consumption for 2008, Vietnam is now capable of exporting a total of about 4.5 million tonnes of rice," the government said.
In May, inflation in Vietnam had surged 25 percent from a year before, with prices for rice and other grains shooting up 68 percent, according to Vietnam's bureau of statistics.
Speculation about a rice shortage fuelled a run on supplies of the grain at supermarkets in April.
But the government said the harvest "was very good this year, in the north as well as in the south."
"Vietnam anticipates harvesting about 37 million tonnes of paddy (non-processed rice) in 2008, which is 1.0 million more tonnes than in 2007."
Since January, Vietnam has exported more than 2.2 million tonnes of rice -- 19 percent more than for the same period in 2007, according to government statistics.
That increase in rice exports, combined with worldwide spiralling inflation, has led to a sharp rise in revenues.
From January to May, Vietnam earned 1.2 billion dollars off the exports -- an increase of 94.1 percent over the same period last year, according to official estimates.
World grain prices have risen sharply this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertiliser costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of farmland to biofuel plantations, industry and cities, and price speculation.
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