Vietnamese enterprises have so far this year inked contracts on selling 4.2 million tons of rice overseas, according to the Vietnam Food Association on Monday.

The Vietnamese government has just asked the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to actively make a balance between rice export and food security. Goods rice crops are prompting Vietnam to remove the rice export cap, under which local enterprises are to export 3.8 million tons of rice this year.

The country exported more than 3.1 million tons of rice worth 869 million US dollars in the first seven months of this year, posting year-on-year respective surges of 13.4 percent and 35.9 percent.

Vietnam, the world's second biggest rice exporter after Thailand, shipped abroad slightly more than 4 million tons of rice last year, mainly to the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and the Middle East, the association said.

Source: Xinhua