At a recent government meeting on rice export in the context of Covid 19 pandemic, saltwater intrusion and drought, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said it is necessary to carefully consider rice exports to ensure national food security and at the same time protect the interests of farmers and businesses.

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Due to complaints about rice export irregularities and loose coordination between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance, Deputy PM Dung asked the two ministries to ensure the most effective implementation of the tasks assigned by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

DPM Dung allowed granting upfront the May quota of 100,000 tons of rice to exporters who already have their rice stored at ports but are unable to send out because of not opening customs declarations in April.

For enterprises that have been allowed rice export customs declaration under the 400,000 tons rice export quota for April, DPM Dung requested the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to sanction those wrongly declaring their exported rice amount.

DPM Dung also agreed with the ministries’ proposal on allowing the export of sticky rice (including unhusked sticky rice, sticky rice and broken sticky rice) in April. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is responsible for reviewing domestic volume and the market demand for sticky rice, and estimating the exportable sticky rice volume, and submitting to the prime minister in April through the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Finally, regarding the stockpiling for national rice reserves, DPM Dung asked the Ministry of Finance to clear constraints to accelerate the purchase of rice for national food reserves. 

Earlier, some 40 rice exporters successfully registered to export nearly 400,000 tons of rice in April, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs. However, other rice exporters have filed complaints that the opening of the online customs declaration for rice at midnight took them by surprise and lacked transparency.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on April 20 urged the Government Inspectors to launch an inspection to verify allegations of irregularities in rice exports, with regard to procedures for opening the online customs system for rice export registration.