Vietnam is currently the biggest rice supplier to the Philippines, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of its total import volume, the Government News reported.

The country imported nearly 1.5 million tons of rice from Vietnam in the first five months of the year, figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.

Total revenue from rice exports in the five-month period stood at $772.4 million, a year-on-year rise of 31.1 per cent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam shipped 4.27 million tons of rice abroad in the first half of the year, earning $2.3 billion, up 22.2 per cent in volume and 34.7 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

Under the Strategy on the Development of Vietnam’s Rice Export Markets to 2030, the country is to reduce annual rice exports to only 4 million tons by 2030.