It is predicted that African countries will import around 9.8 million tones of rice from Vietnam in 2011.

 

 In the first half of this year, Vietnam exported 900,000 tonnes of rice to Africa, up 55 percent over the same period last year.

 Ly Quoc Hung, Head of the Department for Africa, West Asia and South Asia under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said trade turnover between Vietnam and these markets hit US$5.6 billion, an increase of 65 percent over the previous year.

 Of that figure, exports reached US$2.8 billion, 69 percent more than last year and double the country’s average export growth.

 Exports to the Middle East have sharply increased (87 percent), followed by South Asia (62 percent) and Africa (53 percent).

(VOV)