Rice production in southern provinces drops by 23,000 tons

Report by the Department of Crop Production said that southern provinces grew more than 1.64 million hectares of rice in the summer-autumn rice crop of this year, a decrease of 46,000 hectares compared to the same period last year, with productivity estimated at 5.6 tons per hectare, up 1.39 tons per hectare.
Rice production in southern provinces drops by 23,000 tons

In terms of rice variety structure, fragrant and specialties rice accounted for 24.8 percent; high-quality rice held 44 percent; medium-quality rice made up 19 percent; and the rest was glutinous rice and other varieties. Total rice production was estimated at 9.2 million tons, down 23,000 tons compared to summer-autumn rice crop last year.

According to statistics by the Vietnam Food Association, rice export volume in the first six months of this year reached 3.39 million tons, a drop of 2.8 percent over the same period last year, worth US$1.46 billion, down 19 percent over the same period last year. Average rice export price was at $429 per ton, down 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

As for the autumn-winter rice crop, the department put forward two solutions. In the first solution, Mekong Delta provinces will grow 750,000 hectares of rice, up 9,380 hectares over the same period last year, with estimated production at above 4 million tons of rice.

In the second one, the area of rice will be adjusted to 700,000 hectares, down 4,062 hectares over the same period last year, with expected production at more than 3.8 million tons. Around 10,000 hectares will be used to grow other crops which give higher economic efficiency than rice.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on July 11 held a conference to preliminarily summarize production of the summer-autumn rice crop and deploy the plan for the autumn-winter rice crop at provinces in the Southeast region and the Mekong Delta.

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