MoIT asks for rice export tax exemption

Higher exports would help push up rice purchases and help farmers, MoIT said.

In the past two months, domestic rice exporters have bought a large volume of rice from farmers, according to Government instructions.

The Government imposed a tax on rice exports in July, concerned there would be a shortage. The rice export tax scheme is only applied to the best quality rice. Tax rates range from VND800,000 ($48.5) to VND2.9 million ($175.7) per tonne.

According to the Viet Nam Food Association, the country has so far this year exported more than 3.7 million tonnes of rice, so exporters need to ship another 1 million tonnes of rice in the remaining months of the year to meet the annual export target of 4.7 million tonnes.

Rice exporters have signed contracts to further export roughly 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes, and were seeking new customers in Africa and the Middle East.

(Source: Viet Nam News)