Vietnam shipped nearly 5 million tonnes of rice abroad in the first nine months of this year, earning 2.5 billion USD, up 8.5 percent in volume and 23.2 percent in value year-on-year, statistics show.

 China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 23.2 percent of the total.  The price of the grain during January-August was averaged at 504 USD per tonne, a year-on-year rise of 14.6 percent. Markets posting surges in the price included Indonesia, Iraq, the Philippines and Malaysia.  Analysts predicted that the domestic rice market would thrive in the fourth quarter of this year thanks to increasing demand from such importers as the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Nigeria and Egypt.