The Rice Dilemma

Some large trucks are lining up in front of the warehouses. Parked right outside the warehouse doors, they are ready to load and transport rice. Sacks of rice are stacked up to the entrances of warehouses that line a four-kilometer stretch in Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. Most of the rice in Cai Be is for the local supply in Vietnam.

When Tempo visited Cai Be in mid-September, some warehouses were accepting foreign orders, including from Indonesia. Li Ha Phuong, a seller who owns the Tan Thanh rice warehouse, said that they often exported rice to Indonesia. "The last export was about 50,000 tons last June to July," she said.

November 10, 2015