The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has so far this year exported nearly 160,000 tonnes of rice at an average price of 429.47 USD a tonne, fetching about 67.9 million USD.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, during the winter-spring and summer-autumn crops, local enterprises bought 184,000 tonnes of rice for stockpile under a government programme to purchase farmers’ rice.

The timely purchase has helped raise rice prices in the locality, said the department.

In 2013, local rice exporters have faced numerous difficulties such as shrinking markets and unstable export prices. The province’s rice export volume in the first ten months was equivalent to only 71.4 percent while export value fell 29.6 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

With the cultivation area of over 236,000 hectares per year, rice growers in Tien Giang province annually yield more than 1.3 million tonnes of rice for consumption and export.

To promote this important economic potential and remove difficulties for farmers, next year, the province will focus on intensive farming, reducing production costs and ensuring the quality of rice.

It will link enterprises in implementing the large-scale paddy field model and adopt VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards widely.

Vietnam exported over 5.7 million tonnes of rice for nearly 2.5 billion USD in the first ten months of this year, according to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).-VNA