Hanoi, April 4 - Vietnamese exporters will seek government permission to bid at the Phillipines rice tender later this month despite a government ban on new rice deals through June, an industry official said on Friday.
The world's second-largest rice exporter has extended a ban on rice sales until June to help stabilise domestic food prices as it tries to tame double-digit inflation.
Vietnam has already curtailed exports for March and April, an unusual move at the peak of the winter-spring crop, the country's highest yielding crop.
An unseasonably long cold spell also damaged part of northern Vietnam's agricultural crops early this year.
"The restriction is for all types of contracts but we are seeking government permission to join the tender," Nguyen Thi Nguyet, General Secretary of the Vietnam Food Association, told Reuters.
The Communist-run Southeast Asian country plans to cut rice exports by 22 percent this year in an anti-inflation battle that threatens to drive up prices and heighten supply security fears across Asia for the staple food of about 3 billion people.
Rising populations and economic growth mean that the world is already eating more of the grain than is harvested.
Major producing countries like China, India, Egypt and Vietnam have curtailed exports but that would contribute to a 1.1 million drop in rice trade volumes to 29.9 million tonnes, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
Rice export contracts in Vietnam include company-to-company deals and government-to-government deals. Major exporters such as Vinafood 2 that sell rice via tenders to the Philippines are regarded as executing government deals.
The Philippines has planned to buy 500,000 tonnes of rice at a tender on April 17.
Nguyet said Mekong Delta farmers had harvested a bumper winter-spring rice crop, with paddy output rising about 4 percent from a similar crop last year to 9.4 million tonnes.
Farmers have reached a paddy yield of 6.25 tonnes per hectare in this winter-spring crop, up from 6 tonnes in the similar crop last year, she said. Most of the grain will be for exports.
Vietnam has signed export contracts totalling 1.8 million tonnes so far this year, and has shipped nearly 860,000 tonnes in the first three months, Nguyet said.
The government said it would allow 3.5 million to 4 million tonnes to be exported this year, from 4.5 million tonnes in 2007.
Exporters will be limited to loading between 3.2-3.5 million in the January to September period, she said.
"The government will have guidance on the rice shipment volume for each quarter," she said.
Exporters are required to clear their contracts with the food association before they can proceed for loading.