Vietnam shipped 636,344 tonnes of rice worth over USD305 million in July, with more than half the amount exported to Asian markets, said the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).

The figure helped raise the country’s total rice exports in the first seven months of the year to more than 4.5 million tonnes, worth over USD2 billion.

During the period, while some large rice exporters in the world tended to reduce their shipments, Vietnamese exporter still increased both volume and value. Their export volume rose 13.79 percent year-on-year.

Currently, a kilo of 5 percent-broken rice is sold for VND10,150-10,250 (USD0.5) in the River Delta, an increase of VND500-1,000 per kg compared with the price in early July.

Localities in the delta are expected to produce a total output of 4.4 million tonnes of rice in the summer-autumn crop.