HANOI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese rice export prices increased to 528.5 U.S. dollars per ton, up 9.8 percent in the first two months this year from a year earlier, the Vietnam News reported on Wednesday.
The Ukraine crisis has prompted buyers to import more rice and build up their inventories on fears that the disruption in the supply chain of food grains would make a comeback, the newspaper quoted Nguyen Quoc Toan, head of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics under the Agriculture Ministry, as saying.
Prices of Vietnam's 5-percent broken rice prices in February rose to 457 U.S. dollars per ton from 449 U.S. dollars in January, Toan added.
Vietnam exported 789,000 tons of grain in January and February, earning 417.2 million U.S. dollars, down 18.8 percent in volume and 10.8 percent in value compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.
The Philippines was the biggest import market in January with over 129,000 tons worth 64.55 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 34.6 percent of Vietnam's total export.
Supply remains a concern as the drought in some countries affected production and the situation in Ukraine raised concerns over shortages, traders said.
Besides, India's ban on broken rice exports and a 20-percent tax levy on white rice varieties have added to the supply difficulties given the fact that the South Asian country is one of the largest rice exporters in the world. ■