Hanoi, Sept 24 - Vietnam's rice exports are expected to have risen 7 percent in the period between January and September, to 3.69 million tonnes while its earnings will nearly double, the government said on Wednesday.
Vietnam projects rice exports this year of 4.5 million to 4.6 million tonnes, putting it on track to be the world's second-largest rice exporter, up from third place in 2007, after Thailand and India, when it shipped 4.5 million tonnes.
Asian rice prices have stabilised after tripling to their highest level earlier this year, pushing up Vietnam's revenue from the grain in the first nine months of 2008 by 89.7 percent to $2.44 billion, the General Statistics Office report showed.
Rice is the staple food for many of vietnam's 86.5 million citizens, and also the country's largest cash earner among its agriculture exports.
The estimated nine-month shipment makes up about 80 percent of Vietnam's annual rice export target this year, 4.1 million tonnes of which had been contracted, an Agriculture Ministry report said.
Traders said foreign buying demand has been slowing, prompting domestic paddy prices to ease while Vietnamese farmers have just finished a bumper summer-autumn crop in the Mekong Delta food basket.
Last week Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai urged exporters to speed and complete loading for the contracted volume by the end of October and also to seek new deals to reach the annual export target.