Of all Vietnam's exports, rice continues to be the dominant item, with export turnover exceeding US$1 billion since 2005. Thus it brings in large and substantial amounts of foreign currencies. For the first eight months of 2007, the country's rice exports? turnover amounted to US$1.15 billion which represents a year-on-year jump of 12 percent.



In order to meet domestic demand and improve farmers' standards of living, (since the first years of the renewal process), Vietnam has issued many policies to encourage rice production. In particular, the government policy on giving land to farmers has created a strong driving force for rice production growth. Thanks to these efforts, Vietnam's rice output has soared from 17 million tonnes in 1986 to over 31 million tonnes in 1999 and peaked at 35.8 million tonnes in 2005. The success has helped the country ensure sufficient food supplies for domestic consumption and for export. Besides the growth in volume, the quality of Vietnamese rice has remarkably improved. Many localities in the country's two rice bowls - the Mekong River Delta and the Red River Delta, have paid attention to growing high-quality and specialised rice for exports.

From 1989, when the country started exporting rice, to 2006, Vietnam exported a total of 52 million tonnes of rice, with turnover and price reaching a peak in 2005. Vietnam is now well-known as the world's second largest rice exporter, behind Thailand.

The export structure has made positive changes with 25 per cent broken rice down to 30 per cent from 60 per cent and 5 per cent broken rice climbing to 50 per cent. The gap in the price of export rice between Vietnam and Thailand has been shortened. High rice quality and membership into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have created conditions for Vietnamese rice to expand its export markets. At present, Vietnam's rice is exported to more than 70 countries and territories worldwide, including Japan, the EU and the US. Many economic experts predicted that Vietnam may catch up with Thailand in rice export in the near future.

Between the present year and 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has in place plans to improve the rice quality. This is its export strategy to help raise competitiveness and export value. It is also an attempt to ensure national food security and maintaining the position of Vietnamese rice. As a result, the ministry is increasing investment in programmes to yield high-quality rice growing in the Red River Delta, the south central coastal region and the Mekong River Delta.