Vietnam may not be selling rice to RP, too
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:32:00 05/03/2008
MANILA, Philippines--Vietnam, the world's second biggest rice exporter after Thailand, may not take part in the Philippine tender on May 5, according to a report in Thanh Nien, a Vietnamese newspaper.
The report, which was posted on the newspaper's website, said Vietnam might not join the rice tender because it was seeking to "secure domestic supplies and curb price increases."
To ensure the supply of rice for its 85 million population, Vietnam will cut rice exports by 11 percent this year, the report said.
"We're asking for the government's instruction on whether or not to participate in this tender, but it's very likely that we won't go," the report quoted Nguyen Thi Nguyet, general secretary of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), as saying.
The VFA has asked its members to stop signing rice export contracts until June, the report said.
The report came out after the five Mekong rice producers--Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Laos--agreed in principle to form a rice price-fixing cartel.
Thailand recently announced that it will not join in the Philippine tender next week.
Schatzi Quodala, Inquirer Research
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