Rice was one of the few commodities to withstand the negative impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic in the first half of the year, with both rice export volume and value increasing by 5.6% and 19.3% to over 3.5 million tonnes and 1.73 billion USD, respectively. The Ministry of Industry and Trade projected that Vietnamese rice firms would have an opportunity to increase their output and export prices in the near future. Furthermore, the impending enforcement of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in August is expected to offer fresh impetus for Vietnamese rice to penetrate into the demanding markets. The ministry recently published a list of local rice export businesses as of July 15, with the total number of eligible rice traders in the country rising to 192./.