Vietnam's rice exports

Vietnam's rice exports

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam's rice export target of two million tons for 1994 is within reach, but deliveries this month may be delayed to help stabilize the domestic market, government officials said yesterday.

They denied reports the government had halted rice exports for a month to ensure adequate supplies for victims of floods in the Mekong Delta. The floods have killed 221 people, according to newspaper reports.

"The government has made no decision to halt rice exports," one official told Reuters.

He said Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet had told the commerce and agriculture ministries only to cut or delay rice exports if it was necessary to meet shortages caused by flood damage.

Vietnam is the world's third largest exporter of rice and the Mekong Delta is its main producing area. Exports in the first nine months of this year were 1.5 million tons, compared with 1.7 million tons in the whole of 1993.