Vietnam's Rice Exports To Ivory Coast Seen To Rise

HANOI, July 10 Asia Pulse - Vietnam has a great opportunity to boost rice exports to Ivory Coast in the coming years thanks to its growing demand and taste for Vietnamese rice, said the Ministry of Trade.

In the first 11 months of 2006, Vietnam shipped 213,000 tonnes of rice worth US$53 million to the African country that imported a total of 900,000 tonnes last year.

According to the ministry, Pakistan also planned to import rice from the Southeast Asian nation in order to stabilise the domestic market amidst a lean harvest in the country this year.

Vietnamese rice is currently exported for $305 per tonne, up $45 over the same period last year, said the ministry.

Statistics released by the General Statistics Office shows that Vietnam - the world's second largest rice exporter after Thailand - shipped abroad 2.3 million tones of rice worth over $731 million in the first half of 2007, year-on-year decreases of 9 per cent in volume and 5.6 per cent in turnover.