Vietnam's rice export hit nearly 2. 68 million tons from the start of this year till date, down by 23. 48 percent year on year, said Vietnam Food Association (VFA).
Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Wednesday quoted VFA as saying that as of June 20, Vietnam had earned 1.16 billion U.S. dollars from rice exports.
Asian countries remained Vietnam's largest rice importer, buying over 267,500 tons in June, accounting for 76.08 percent of the country's total rice exports in the month.
Meanwhile, the Americas rank the second with 61,300 tons, accounting for 17.44 percent of the total rice exports.
Local rice exporting companies said that so far this year, Vietnam's rice exports to China have risen, especially the export of 5 percent broken rice.
On June 24, Vietnam's 5 percent broken rice price stood at 405- 415 U.S. dollars per ton, 30 U.S. dollars higher than a year earlier, said VITIC.
In May, Vietnam pocketed over 248.6 million U.S. dollars by shipping overseas around 586,000 tons of rice, up 5.29 percent in value and 9.37 percent in volume from the previous month, said VFA.
Vietnam is one of the most important rice producers and exporters in the world. Rice plays the most important role among all agricultural commodities in Vietnam in terms of food security, rural wages and employment, as well as export revenues.
In 2013, Vietnam earned 2.99 billion U.S. dollars from exporting 6.72 million tons of rice. The country has set a target of exporting 7 million tons of rice in 2014.