Under the agreement, Vietnam will provide 1.5 million tons of rice for the Philippines each year till the end of 2018. The first bidding round of rice exports will happen in January, 2017. From 2011- 2015, the Philippines has always been an important market on exporting rice of Vietnam. Annually, the country has imported from 500,000 to nearly 1.5 million tons of rice of Vietnam. In the period of 2011- 2015, the country has made up for 17-20 percent of Vietnam's total rice volume being exported in the world.
According to the ministry, in the context that Vietnamese rice is facing fierce competition from its traditional competitors like Thailand, India as well as emerging ones including Pakistan, Cambodia, and Myanmar, the agreement will help ensure Vietnam's position among the world's top rice exporters.
In 2016, Vietnam exported an estimated 4.88 million tons of rice, earning some 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 25.8 percent in volume and 21.2 percent in value, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.