Vietnam rice exports may fall

The trade ministry in Vietnam, the world's second largest exporter of rice, said shipments of the grain will fall 8.1 percent to 2.2 million tonnes during the first half of 2004 compared with a year.
It said in a report on its Web site (www.mot.gov.vn) that while there had been an increase in shipments to new markets such as South Africa, Switzerland, Angola and Malaysia, demand from traditional markets such as the Philippines was level.
Manila plans to purchase 945,00 tonnes of rice from overseas this year, compared with 934,000 tonnes imported in 2003.
On Friday, state media quoted the ministry as saying it targeted total revenues from planned annual exports of 3.5 million tonnes of the grain to reach $750 million this year.