Vietnam extends free-tax Cambodia rice import till '09

Times of India India

HANOI: Vietnam has extended its suspension of duty on rice imported from neighbouring Cambodia until 2009, and will raise the tax-free limit by one-third to 200,000 tonnes next year, state media reported on Thursday. Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand, would allow the duty-free import of 150,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice this year, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper quoted the Industry and Trade Ministry as saying. The ministry also permitted Vietnamese importers to buy 3,000 tonnes of dry tobacco from Cambodia a year without paying import duty, the newspaper said. Both countries are members of the World Trade Organisation and many Vietnamese farmers work in Cambodian rice fields or buy the grain from there to offset a domestic shortfall during the period between crops. Vietnam has allowed Cambodian rice to be imported without tax since 2006. The purchases, which often take place in the last quarter of the year, help stablise Vietnam's grain prices and enable exporters to buy better-quality grain more easily. Vietnam plans to export between 4.5 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes of rice this year after a 3 percent fall last year from 2006 to an estimated 4.5 million tonnes, the Agriculture Ministry said.