Cuba to buy 11 pct less Vietnam rice in 2010

Cuba to buy 11 pct less Vietnam rice in 2010-report
Published: 08 Feb 2010 20:56:37 PST

HANOI, Feb 9 - Cuba will buy 400,000 tonnes of rice this year from
Vietnam through its regular purchases with deferred payment, a drop of
11 percent from 2009, a Vietnamese state-run newspaper reported.

Vietnam Northern Food Corp, or Vinafood 1, will sell the grain with
payment deferred for 1-½ years, Deputy Chairman Pham Van Bay of the
Vietnam Food Association (VFA) was quoted as saying by Thoi Bao Kinh Te
Saigon Online newspaper (www.thesaigontimes.vn).

Last year Cuba imported 449,950 tonnes of Vietnamese rice, worth $191
million. That was 7.6 percent of Vietnam's total rice exports last year,
the food association's data showed, without giving comparative figures
for 2008.

Hanoi-based Vinafood 1, the country's second-largest rice exporter after
Vinafood 2, has been assigned by the government to supply rice to Cuba
under annual deals. Vietnam accounts for most of Cuba's annual rice imports.

Vietnam pledged to help Cuba boost rice production in a cooperation deal
signed by the two Communist allies during a visit last September by
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet.

The government has asked Vinafood 1, Vinafood 2 and the Vietnam Food
Association to pursue high-volume contracts this year in order to boost
exports of the grain.

Bay said in the report that Vietnam, the world's second-biggest rice
exporter after Thailand, was expected to ship around 6 million tonnes of
the grain this year, similar to last year.

Demand would come from Africa, the Philippines, Iraq, India and
Indonesia, Bay said, without detailing volumes.

"If India and Indonesia buy rice, our exports will be promising," Bay
said, adding that the two were likely to be in the market from the
second half of the year.

He said Vietnam had an estimated 7.5 million tonnes of rice available
for exports in 2010, including a record stock of 1 million tonnes
carried over from last year.

The total included an estimated 3 million tonnes to be harvested from
the current winter-spring crop, 2.5 million tonnes from the
summer-autumn and third crops later in the year, as well as 1 million
tonnes from Cambodia, Bay said.

Rice export contracts signed as of Jan. 31 totalled 2.37 million tonnes,
18 percent down from the same period last year, Bay said.

The food association oversees day-to-day rice production and exports
from Vietnam, while the Agriculture Ministry is in charge of production
and proposes the exportable quantity to be approved by the government.

Cuba to buy 11 pct less Vietnam rice in 2010-report (9 February 2010)
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/agriculture/100246914-1-update-1-cuba-buy-11-pct.html