This year’s rice output is likely to reach 41.017 million tonnes, a year-on-year rise of 2.6 percent, said a senior agricultural official.

Nguyen Tri Ngoc, Head of the Crop Production Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that this would help ensure domestic food security and realise the goal of exporting over 7 million tonnes of rice this year.

Thanks to the application of scientific technology advances, the selection of high-yield varieties and favourable weather conditions, the nation’s winter-spring crop yield reached 63.47 quintal per hectare, an increase of 1.2 quintal per hectare over the same period of last year, he added.

According to the Vietnam Food Association, rice export prices will continue rising due to impacts of Thailand’s rice prices, a happy signal for Vietnam’s rice production sector./.