Vietnam exported almost 4.7 million tonnes of rice in the first eight months of this year, according to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).

Over the period, China, the Philippines, Cuba, Malaysia, Hong Kong (China) and the African markets have been major importers of Vietnamese rice.

Though Vietnam’s rice export to Asia in the period dropped by 20.8 percent over the same period last year, it saw strong increases in markets in Africa, the America s and Europe of 12.4, 37.7 and 139.3 percent respectively.

The country is expected to ship 650,000 tonnes of rice in September, raising the total volume for the first nine months to over 5.3 million tonnes.

The VFA forecast that rice exports this year can reach 7.6 million tonnes.

Last year, the country shipped a record 7.72 million tonnes of rice, earning 3.45 billion USD.

According to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by this time, localities in the Mekong Delta harvested about 8.61 million tonnes of rice in this year’s summer-autumn crop.-VNA