Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui

CAN THO – Farmers in the Mekong Delta have been hit with a double whammy of not only poor profits of the early winter-spring crop 2012-2013, but also falling prices offered by local exporters that put them right in at the deep end.

HANOI - Vietnam's rice exports between January and November rose 9.7 per cent from a year ago to an estimated 7.44 million tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry said, led by Chinese purchases and already a record for annual shipments.

The most” does not always means “the best.” This is the situation of Vietnam’s rice export: though it is the biggest rice exporter in the world, it does not earn the fattest profit.

Price of autumn-winter rice has plunged in the Mekong Delta in recent days due to continuous heavy rainfall that has lasted for more than a month.

Vietnam's rice export in the first quarter of this year is estimated to reach 1.3 million tonnes, representing sharp reductions in both volume and value compared with the same period of 2011, reported Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Rice exports from Vietnam, the world's second-largest exporter of the grain after Thailand, could fall 44.4 percent in the three months ending March from a year earlier to 1 million tonnes, a government report said on Monday.

Vietnam's rice exports this year jumped 4.36 percent from 2010 to a record high of 7.19 million tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday, beating previous industry projections.

The government rice export management group foresees that next year rice exports will not be as high as this year but will still be good, ensuring that farmers profit by 30 percent or even more.

Vietnam agencies are investigating Japan's claim that it has found genetically modified organisms (GMO) in pho (rice noodles) exported by a local company, the news website of the Vietnam Farmers' Union reported on Thursday.

Vietnam may export 7.5 million tonnes of rice in 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has forecast after considering the high export volume of 6 million tonnes in the first nine months of the year.

Vietnam expects that its rice exports will grow to as much as 7 million tonnes next year, benefiting from Thailand's rice-pledging scheme.

Rice shipments from Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest exporter after Thailand, may exceed a target for the year as production increases and exporters target new markets, including neighbor China.

Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, plans to stockpile 1 million tonnes of rice to help sustain the market for farmers amid low prices, authorities said Friday.

HANOI - Vietnam vowed to maintain current rice crop areas and boost yields to ensure supplies remain adequate in the face of demand pressures from a fast-growing population as well as the effects of climate change.

Vietnam, the second-largest rice exporter, may lose about 5 percent of the farmland used for the crop by 2020 as malls and industrial parks spread, according to the government, which has drawn up a plan to halt the losses.