Vietnam harvested a record rice output of 41.8 million tonnes this year, 1.8 million tonnes higher than last year, said Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Thanks to bumper harvest, Vietnam boosted its rice export, shipping abroad 6.8 million tonnes in the first eleven months, grossing 3.5 billion USD. This represented a year-on-year rise of 7 percent in volume and 16.7 percent in value.

According to MARD, growing demand, higher prices and declining supply in the world market due to natural disasters in a number of countries have created favourable conditions for Vietnam to promote rice export.

Indonesia is Vietnam ’s largest rice importer. It is followed by the Philippines . Rice exports to the two markets accounted for almost 40 percent of the country’s total.

Vietnam is expected to export more than 7 million tonnes of rice this year./.