Vietnam, Philippines To Sign Rice Trade Agreement

Hanoi: Vietnam and the Philippines agreed to sign an agreement on rice imports to guarantee food security, Hanoi said Thursday, after prices of the world staple soared to decade highs last month.

The announcement came after a meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia this week.

"The two sides agreed to soon discuss and sign an inter-governmental agreement on rice trade cooperation to together ensure objectives on food security amidst complicated developments in the recent global food supply chain," a statement on Vietnam's official government website said Thursday.

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The agreement would be for five years and would see Vietnam export rice to the Philippines, according to a statement from the Philippine presidential palace.

Marcos said the agreement "would stabilise the rice supply and pricing in the Philippines amid the current volatility", the statement added.

Rice is a basic staple in the country of 110 million people. But the Philippines cannot produce enough for itself and has been one of the world's top importers of the grain.

In July, India, the world's biggest rice exporter, banned some overseas rice sales to calm rising prices at home.

Global prices soared to their highest levels in nearly 15 years last month.

In the first eight months of the year, Vietnam exported nearly 5.9 million tonnes of rice, earning $3.2 billion, up 37 percent year-on-year, according to Vietnam's general statistics office.

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