Vietnamese rice exporters have so far this year signed contracts to export six million tonnes of rice, the Vietnam Food Association said on October 27.

The number of rice export contracts has increased rapidly thanks to the growing demand of rice from African and Middle East countries, according to the VFA.

In the first nine months of this year, rice export to Africa reached 1.4 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 98 percent, and 250,000 tonnes to Middle East , up by 65 percent./.