HCMC – Vietnam has yet to purchase an adequate amount of rice for the national reserves this year, according to a top official of the General Department of State Reserves (GDSR), reported VietnamPlus.
As of April 14, GDSR had bought only 7,700 tons of rice out of the target amount of 190,000 tons, as required by the prime minister, stated Do Viet Duc, head of GDSR.
Meanwhile, GDSR recently decided to cancel the tender packages at the State Reserves departments of Hai Duong and the south-central regions to supply 8,000 and 9,000 tons of rice to the national reserves, respectively.
Similar rice tender packages at the State Reserves Department in the south of the Central Highlands were canceled as well, mainly due to contractors’ refusal to sign rice contracts, Duc reported.
The GDSR leader added that the upcoming bidding sessions for rice supplies will be carried out in a timely manner in line with prevailing regulations to purchase sufficient rice.
Earlier, the Finance Ministry in a notice sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that GDSR had won tenders to buy 178,000 out of 190,000 tons of rice for the national reserves that year, but some winning bidders had taken a long time to sign the rice contracts and had refused to negotiate these contracts.
Several days later, many winning bidders announced that they had withdrawn from signing the contracts.
GDSR has held tenders since March 12 to purchase 190,000 tons of 15% broken rice and is set to meet its rice needs before June 15.
