Vietnam to barter rice for corn

Vietnam would buy between 500,000 and 800,000 tons of corn from the Philippines in exchange for Vietnamese rice from the world's largest importer of the grain, a Vietnamese industry official said Thursday.

"The Philippines has been buying millions of tons of rice from Vietnam so in exchange we would buy corn under a trade deal between ASEAN members," said Nguyen Tho Tri, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Food Association.

Tri said the industry body had also cut the floor on rice export prices by 7-12.5 percent to boost exports.