Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in a statement posted on the government Web site late Thursday asked traders to increase rice exports “to consume all unmilled rice on stock of farmers and help secure rice supplies to the world market,” it said

In March, the government temporarily banned traders from signing new rice exports contracts and capped the rice exports between January to September to 3.5 million tons amid worries about possible rice shortages and soaring food prices.

The statement quoted an Agriculture Ministry report as saying the Southeast Asian country has good crops and total output is expected to top 37 million tons of unmilled rice this year, up 1 million tons from 2007.

Domestic retail rice prices more than doubled in April compared to the start of the year, but have lately fallen back some 25 percent.

Vietnam is the world’s second-largest rice exporter after Thailand. Last year, it exported 4.5 million tons of rice.

Considering the domestic demands and production, Vietnam can export 4.5 million tons of rice this year, the report said. Vietnam has exported 2.2 million tons of rice so far this year, up 19 percent against the same period of last year, the statement said.

The prime minister has urged the central bank to make funds available for rice exporters, it said.

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