Vietnam suspends rice exports to US after pesticide violations

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has decided to temporarily put on hold exports of rice to the US due to pesticide residue issues.

The decision was made after the US discovered high levels of pesticide residue in shipments of Vietnamese rice, the Cong an nhan dan (People's Police) news site reported on September 29 quoting Vo Thanh Do, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture-Forestry-Fisheries Processing.

The suspension is made as the ministry needs time to handle the issue to avoid a ban on Vietnamese rice imports from the US, Do told a seminar in the southern city of Can Tho recently.

The Vietnam Food Association cited information from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as saying that in the first four months of this year, the US rejected 94 rice containers from Vietnam, which are equivalent to around 1,700 tons of rice.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam exported 22,084 tons of rice to the US, falling almost 33% from the same period last year, according to Vietnam Customs.