Twenty four companies have recently received licences from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ship rice abroad from now to 2017.

Up to 99 enterprises have been allowed to export rice since Decree 109 on rice export businesses took effect in early 2011.

The decree requires enterprises to meet criteria such as having a warehouse with a capacity of at least 5,000 tonnes of rice in stock, at least one rice husking workshop with a minimum capacity of processing 10 tonnes of rice per hour and export volume of at least 10,000 tonnes of rice each year.-VNA