Laos exports 21,000 tons of rice so far this year

By：Xinhua Update：2016-12-16

VIENTIANE, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Laos exported some 21,000 tons of rice so far this year to foreign markets, particularly the European Union and China.

"We should have modernized mill factories and rice should have a grade in the same variety," Lao Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Lien Thikeo was quoted by state-run news agency KPL as saying on Thursday.

The minister said the government had an ambitious plan to export more than 20,000 tons of rice next year as well as promote international brand for the Lao rice in export markets.

In late 2015, Laos exported its first batch of rice to China. Only half of the 8,000 tons of rice planned for exports to China was shipped so far as the market set higher quality requirements for the Lao rice, according to the KPL.

Laos recorded nationwide production of more than 4.2 million tons of rice this year.

The country is one of the rice growers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since 2000, Laos has been able to sufficiently meet domestic demand for rice. In subsequent years the focus of rice production has become increasingly export-oriented.