HCMCity (VNA) - Officials from provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta –the country’s rice granary - and rice exporters have urged the government toresume rice exports without setting limits, saying many firms face difficultiesbecause of this.

Speakingat a meeting in HCM City on April 22, they also exhorted the Ministries ofIndustry and Trade; and Finance and the customs department to quickly clear theconsignments of rice exports stuck at ports.

Thegovernment recently lifted a ban on rice exports, but capped them at around400,000 tonnes each in April and May citing national food security concernsamid the COVID-19 pandemic.

OnApril 12, the General Department of Customs began accepting online customsdeclarations from rice exporters, but many were left disappointed since thequota of 400,000 tonnes was reached in just three hours.

Somehundreds tonnes of rice are now stuck at ports.

LeMinh Duc, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Long An province,said: "Last year, we sat together to discuss solutions to boost riceexports, but this year we discuss whether to export or not. This isabnormal, especially in the context that rice output this year has notdecreased despite being affected by drought and saltwater intrusion."

Asthe COVID-19 pandemic rages globally, demand for rice has increased in manymarkets, and Vietnam should pay attention to this opportunity, he said.

"Inthe current situation, we have recommended the Government should allow exportof rice without applying limits.”

NguyenNgoc Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), said: “As of April18, rice inventory at member companies was 1.94 million tonnes. Enterprises hadsigned contracts to export 1.7 million tonnes with delivery until June. If theyfulfil the contracts, they will still have more than 200,000 tonnes in stock.Besides, the summer-autumn rice crop is about to be harvested.

“Therefore,we have petitioned the Government to allow normal rice exports from May.”

TruongQuang Hoai Nam, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Can Tho city, agreedwith Duc’s opinions and called for allowing exporters who submitted customsdeclaration forms in March to ship their rice and enabling firms withconsignments stuck at ports to complete customs clearance.

"Firmsin the city had shipped nearly 76,200 tonnes of rice to ports. They submittedcustoms declarations for more than 43,000 tonnes in March. But all consignmentsare stuck at ports."

TranHo Hien of the Binh Dinh Food Joint Stock Company (Bidifood) said his companyhad nearly 10,000 tonnes stuck at My Thoi Port because customs lost its customsdeclaration form.

Hiscompany has been suffering heavy losses since it has to meet 200 million VND aday (8,476 USD) for a month in unexpected expenses, he said, adding that hiscompany is in danger of collapse.

Hesought the help of the Ministries of Industry and Trade; and Finance.

DeputyMinister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, who chaired the meeting, calledon customs to help Bidifood and other companies in similar circumstances cleartheir consignments as soon as possible.

Headmitted that there have been difficulties for businesses, but the recentchanges in rice export regulations were due to concerns related to foodsecurity and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and saltwater intrusion.

Localitiesin the Mekong Delta have reported a bumper winter-spring crop, and farmers inthe north have also started harvesting their rice crop, which has not affectedby pests as earlier feared.

Basedon this, the Ministry of Industry and Trade would recommend that the Governmentshould adjust the rice export regulations from May, he promised./.