China continues to export rice this year

China will continue to export rice this year, which may help ease panic over rice shortage, said Yang Hongzhou, the general manager of Rice Department of COFCO.

Yang disclosed that the quota of food export has not been issued yet, but a new contract of COFCO is under discussion.

The output of rice in China accounts for about one-third of the world's total. In 2007, China's rice export rose 7% to 1.32 million tons, accounting for 1% of its total output. According to official data released on Tuesday, the Q1 rice export grew 39% to 600,000 tons. In March alone, it exported 255, 400 tons of rice.

Last week, the State Council said China would control food export in order to ensure domestic supply.

The government canceled the 13% export tax rebate and imposed 5% of import tax. But it still has limited impact on the export performance, as traders are lured by the export price which is two times more expensive than the domestic one.