Vietnam exported 710,000 MT of rice worth 229 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year, posting respective year-on-year declines of 43.3 percent and 33.2 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

The rice were mostly exported to the Philippines, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. Vietnam is predicted to ship 150,000-170,000 MT of rice to Japan in 2007, up from 130,000 tons in 2006, some 120,000 MT in 2005 and 80,000 MT in 2004.