The pact, accounting for 30% of Vietnam's projected export volume this year, would fill the annual grain import needs of the Philippines, the world's largest rice buyer.
"There have been many positive signs this year for Vietnam's rice export market," the government said in a rare rice report. It did not disclose the pricing of the deal.
In Manila, officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has earlier said the country has secured its rice import needs for 2009.
Previously, traders had said the pact signed between the two countries was for at least 1.0 million tons of rice, at $380 a ton, cost and freight, with 500,000 tons to be delivered in February and March.
Shipments to the Philippines this year could actually reach about 1.7 million tons, traders in Vietnam's rice dealing hub, Ho Chi Minh City, said. Last year, Viet Nam exported 1.6 million tons to the Philippines.
"The deal with Manila has had a clear impact on domestic rice prices," a trader with a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said.
This week the 25-percent broken grade is being sought for Manila delivery at $400 a ton, up more than 8.0% from a month ago, traders said.
Industry watchdog the Viet Nam Food Association said on Tuesday it had raised floor rice export prices by up to 6.4% with effect from Feb. 3, thanks to robust export demand.
The government also said Vietnamese rice exporters were in talks with "many buyers" from Singapore and several African nations for more shipments.
Overall, Vietnam's exports this year could reach 5.0 million tons, an increase of about 6.4% over 2008, the government said in the rice report.
First-half shipments would jump 15% in 2009 from the same period last year to about 2.8 million tons.
The minimum export prices for the 5.0-percent and 25-percent broken grades are now $420 and $390 a ton, FOB Saigon Port, respectively, up from $400 and $370 earlier, the VFA said.
Paddy prices in Vietnam's rice-basket Mekong Delta provinces have risen about 15 percent to about 4,000 dong per kg ($0.23), from around 3,500 dong per kg two weeks ago, the report said. ($1=16,979 dong) (Reuters)
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