Vietnam will export 200,000 tons of rice to Cuba next year, local newspaper Labor said on Wednesday.

The government has just asked the Northern Food Corporation to sign contracts with Cuban partners, and commercial banks to facilitate lending to the state-owned corporation.

Vietnam, the world's second biggest rice exporter after Thailand, sold overseas more than 4.6 million tons of rice totaling over 1.2 billion US dollars in the first 10 months of this year, representing year-on-year surges of 30 percent and 49 percent respectively.

The country shipped abroad slightly more than 4 million tons of rice valued at 941 million dollars last year, mainly to the Asia- Pacific region, Africa and the Middle East, up 6.3 percent and 30. 6 percent from the year before last, respectively.

Source: Xinhua