HÀ NỘI — China has authorised 22 Vietnamese businesses to export rice into its market, Việt Nam’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) announced.

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has given only 22 firms permission to start exporting rice and rice products starting January 1, counting from the date of departure from the Vietnamese border.

Any businesses not listed by AQSIQ will be banned from exporting to the Chinese market from January 1, the ministry’s Plant Protection Department (PPD), which received the related documents from AQSIQ on December 23, said.

The PPD has notified the Vietnam Food Association, sterilisation companies for exported rice and the 22 listed businesses, and published the list online at www.ppd.gov.vn.

The PPD has ordered the 22 companies to comply strictly with the regulations on food safety and plant quarantine set by both Việt Nam and China. It has also urged sterilisation companies authorised by the AQSIQ to work with rice exporters to maintain the quality of the rice and ensure there are no storage pests.

The AQSIQ has issued the list after carefully considering numerous Vietnamese businesses that had applied for permission to export. A group of Chinese experts had travelled to Việt Nam to inspect 31 enterprises that had previously applied to the local ministry for export rights to China.

Among the several countries that import Vietnamese rice, China tops the list with 35.4 per cent of market share in the first three quarters of 2016, according to MARD.

The total rice export turnover into the Chinese market touched 1.35 million tonnes amounting to $613.4 million, down 23 per cent in terms of quantity and 13.9 per cent in terms of value as compared to the same period in 2015. — VNS