HANOI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam may allow the continuity of rice export after June 30, after a time of ceasing the commodity's shipment to ensure national food security, said Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat.

    Local firms may sign rice export contracts after June as the country's food supply can ensure shipment of at least 3.5 million tons of the grain this year, local newspaper on Tuesday reported Tuesday.

    Vietnamese businesses have signed contracts of shipping abroad 2.4 million tons of rice with delivery slated for this year, Phat said.

    Nearly 1.6 million tons of rice worth 775 million dollars was handed over to foreign customers in the first four months of this year, posting respective year-on-year rises of 11.6 percent and 72.7 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

    The country, the world's second biggest rice exporter, which reaped rice export revenues of 1.5 billion dollars in 2007, mainly from selling the commodity to the Philippines, Malaysia, Cuba, Indonesia and Japan, has recently capped rice export at 3.5-4 million tons in 2008.