2009 VN RICE EXPORTS MAY HIT RECORD HIGH

       Vietnam, the world's second-biggest rice-exporting nation, may ship a record 5.7 million metric tonnes this year, 4 per cent more than previously forecast, according to a projection from the US embassy in the Southeast Asian nation.
       There has been an "increase in the area planted for the autumn and winter crops", wrote Quan Tran of the embassy's agricultural attache's office in a report released last week.
       "The revision was also based on the current rice-trade situation and the year-to-date exports," the report said.
       Vietnam exported 4.7 million tonnes of rice in the first eight months of the year, 43 per cent more than a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates from the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Exporters totalled 4.65 million tonnes last year, and reached a record 5.17 million tonnes in 2005.
       Overall, Vietnam's paddy output would total 36 million tonnes this year compared with a previous estimate of 35.9 million, according to the embassy, which issues estimates separately from the Foreign Agricultural Service's Office of Global Analysis.
       The Foreign Agricultural Service last month increased its forecast for Vietnam's rice exports to 6 million tonnes this year, from 5.5 million tonnes, citing an "aggressive export pace and increased government targets."