Vietnam’s trade ministry proposes to remove rice export quotas from May

In a report sent to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the ministry seeks approval to remove the export quotas for rice which had been decided earlier for national food safety amid coronavirus pressure.

Under research and proposal from ministries, the government decided to export about 800,000 tons of rice in April and May.

In the latest proposal, the trade ministry is seeking the government’s approval to allow normal rice export activities, complying with the Decree 107 of the government, according to the ministry’s recent posting.

However, the ministry proposes strict measures to prevent rice smuggling by allowing exporting through international border gates only and strengthening inspection.

As of Sunday afternoon, about 185,000 tons of rice out of 400,000 tons under allowed quotas for April has been exported. With the total amount of rice that can be exported for the winter-spring crop is 3 million tons, the country can export 300,000 - 350,000 tons in April. The maximum rice that can be exported is 1.9 million tons.

Therefore, the ministry proposed the government to increase the export quota in May to 650,000 tons, or remove the applied quota.

The country is seen to produce 43.5 million tons of paddy in 2020. Of the amount, about 30 million tons will be consumed domestically and reserved for food security.

The ministry proposed to remove rice export quotas since pressure for food security has been over.

Vietnam has loosened to nationwide social distancing campaign as there has been no community-transmitted case of coronavirus for 11 consecutive days. 

As of Monday evening, the country's total infections remained at 270 with number of active patients falling to 48, health ministry said.  

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