In June alone, the country shipped abroad about 604,000 tonnes of rice worth US$317 million, raising the first half’s figures to 3.6 million tonnnes and US$1.8 billion, respectively. Vietnamese rice was sold at an average price of US$505 per tonne in the first five months of the year, up 13.4% year-on-year. China remained the country’s largest rice importer, making up 30% of the market share, with more than 844,000 tonnes valued at US$449.4 million. Vietnam is expected to garner 23.3 million tonnes of rice in the remaining months of 2018, raising total output in the year to 43.9 million tonnes, representing a year-on-year rise of at least 1.2 million tonnes. Notably, Vietnam’s rice exports to Indonesia rose 290.8 times in volume and 269.5 times in value against the same period last year to reach 596,058 tonnes and US$280.04 million, accounting for 17.3% of the country’s total export turnover to Indonesia.