Vietnam, the world’s second-largest rice exporter, announced yesterday that it would increase exports of the grain by 1 million tonnes after determining the country had sufficient supplies for the domestic market.
The move comes after officials had limited rice exports this year to 3.5 million tonnes in a bid to keep domestic prices down in a period of soaring inflation and to ensure its stocks for local consumption amid the global food crisis.
“Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday ordered the acceleration of rice exports to help farmers sell all of their harvest and to contribute to providing supplies to the world market,” the government said on its Web site.
“After having been able to sufficiently balance domestic consumption for 2008, Vietnam is now capable of exporting a total of about 4.5 million tonnes of rice,” the government said.
Last month, inflation in Vietnam surged 25 percent from the previous year, driving prices for rice and other grains up 68 percent, Vietnam’s bureau of statistics said.
Speculation about a rice shortage fuelled a run on supplies of the grain at supermarkets in April.
But the government said the harvest “was very good this year, in the north as well as in the south.”
“Vietnam anticipates harvesting about 37 million tonnes of paddy [non-processed rice] in 2008, which is 1 million more tonnes than in 2007,” the government said.
Since January, Vietnam has exported more than 2.2 million tonnes of rice — 19 percent more than for the same period last year, government statistics showed.
That increase in rice exports, combined with worldwide spiraling inflation, has led to a sharp rise in revenues.
From January to last month, Vietnam earned US$1.2 billion off the exports — an increase of 94.1 percent over the same period last year, official estimates said.
World grain prices have risen sharply this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertilizer costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of farmland to biofuel plantations, industry and cities, and price speculation.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS