HANOI (XINHUA) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed with a plan to resume the country's rice export after the government announced an export ban in March to ensure national food security amid the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam News Agency reported on Saturday (April 11).

The country will export around 400,000 tonnes of rice in April, the news agency reported. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and other relevant ministries and agencies will consider the epidemic situation and report to the prime minister on the rice export plan for May.

Vietnam can export some 800,000 tonnes of rice in April and May, down 40 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to the report.

Earlier the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to resume the country's rice export, suggesting that the country set a monthly quota for rice export.

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has forecast that the country's domestic padi demand in 2020 would reach nearly 30 million tons.